


The Coming Storm

by DotakuAO3



Series: Remnant Reborn [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Drama, F/F, F/M, Fantasy, Friendship/Love, Near Death Experiences, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-15 20:53:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 31,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28819551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DotakuAO3/pseuds/DotakuAO3
Summary: Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee, two young girls living on the small island of patch are brought together by harrowing circumstances and soon a friendship begins to bloom. Both are driven to become renowned Huntresses. Both are filled with hope for a bright future full of heroics, adventure and freedom. Remnant has other plans for them that will soon come crashing down on both of them in more ways than one, will they be ready when it does and is their friendship strong enough to survive the coming storm?
Relationships: Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Series: Remnant Reborn [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2113035
Comments: 21
Kudos: 44





	1. Seed of Friendship is Planted

**Author's Note:**

> Please enjoy, I full intend for this to become a pretty huge story spanning several novel length fanfics and some smaller universe expanding side stories so you could definitely say this is my most ambitious fan project ever. All reviews are welcome both positive and constructively negative, just don't be a jerk kay?

RUBY ROSE

I jump up into Uncle Qrow’s arm, shooting him the biggest pouty face that I can muster. “UNCLE QROW!”

“Oh hey there kiddo.” he stops talking to Dad and looks at me like he’s confused why I’m upset. “Whats up?”

“Don’t what’s up me!” I glare at him. “You said you’d train me but then you disappeared for weeks.”

“Oh yeah I guess I did say that.” He nervously scratches his cheek.

“Yeah you did, I only have a couple of years before I can apply for primary combat school, I need to be ready.” I lower my voice a little but don’t let up on the pout. I know full well he is powerless against it.

“Your Uncle Qrow was busy sweetheart, our old friend sent him on a mission to clear out some Grimm near the border.” Dad tries to calm me down.

“Yeah I know...it’s just-” I start to say but then Uncle Qrow cuts me off by ruffling my hair.

“Don’t worry squirt, I promised I’d train you and I’m going to, I just need some time to talk to your old man and we’ll get right on it.” he smiles at me, looking super cool as always and finally I decide to let him off the hook. “In the meantime how about you patrol the perimeter of the house for me, that should be good practice.”

“Sure Uncle Qrow.” I hug him tight “I missed you by the way.”

“I didn’t miss you.” he says clearly jokingly and we both laugh. “Now go on, I’ll be out in a little bit kiddo.”

“Okay!” I turn around and run off, as I do I could’ve sworn I heard Uncle Qrow say something about ‘Atlas’. I wonder what that was about.

I walk around a half hour or so into the woods around our house, my practice scythe in hand. I know that Uncle Qrow only does this to make me feel like I’m really helping out but I do it anyway because it makes him happy to think I don’t know better. Besides it’s something to do until he gets done talking to Dad and who knows how long that will take. It must have been super important based on the serious looks on their faces before I interrupted.

Anyway we don’t hardly ever have Grimm here on Patch and they never come this close to the house when we do. Eventually I realize I had to have been walking for at least an hour, guess I got lost in my own head there. I look around to figure out which direction the house is in, I have explored these woods enough I know them like the back of my hand. Just as I’m about to walk back to the house I hear what sounds like terrified screaming off in the distance making me freeze in place.

What in the heck could that be, it sounds like a girl? A girl around my age too. I mean sure other people live on the island but I don’t remember any of our nearby neighbors having daughters. On top of that what could be making them scream like that? I feel my heartbeat start to increase and my breathing becomes faster as I think about whether I should try to help or run to get Qrow. It would take a long time to get back to the house even if I run. On the other hand the girl sounded fairly close but even if I went to help what could I do?

“HELP!” I hear the voice scream in desperation right as I was about to turn back toward the house . In that moment though my body reacts before I even have time to think about it further and I sprint full force in the direction of the voice. My heart is racing and my palms are sweaty but I can’t stop myself from charging toward the source of the sound, scythe in hand. In the back of my mind I can’t help but think this is crazy but I keep running regardless.

Finally I find the source of the screaming. It’s a girl around my age, maybe a little older, with snow white hair and icy blue eyes. Her hair was full of leaves, she was missing a shoe and her clothes were torn almost as if something with claws had attempted to take a swipe at her and only just missed. I run over to her and as I get closer I can see she is breathing heavily and is clearly terrified.

“Are you okay, what happened?” I ask soothingly, trying to calm her down despite how freaked out I am. She seems surprised at first but she quickly clings onto me.

“It’s coming, it wants to kill me!” she screams. Her whole body is trembling and she is on the verge of tears.

“Wh-Whats coming, what wants to kill you?” I ask only to immediately get my answer. I hear a low vicious growling off to my side. I turn to see a pair of burning red eyes, staring at us from behind some bushes. My body starts trembling and I find it hard to breathe. The monster walks slowly toward us and as it steps out of the bush I can tell it’s a Beowulf.

My entire body is trembling and my gaze is fixated on the monster in front of me. Everything in my mind is telling me that I am about to die. Running isn’t an option at this point and I’m not exactly a Huntress...I start to fear that I might never be one now. I swallow and take a deep breath in that moment I make a choice. I grab a hold of the girl and put her behind me, getting into a fighting stance. Firmly planting myself and holding my scythe out in front of me. I try my best to desperately remember everything Uncle Qrow taught me.

“What are you doing?” the girl asks in a shaky whispered tone.

“I have no idea.” I answer honestly. My mind is screaming at me that I’m crazy, that there is no way I can fight this thing but at the same time I know if I don’t we are for sure going to die. I’m still trembling but I’m resolved to stand my ground.

“We have to run.” she tugs gently on my sweatshirt with a trembling hand. 

“It won’t matter, we aren’t fast enough to outrun it for long, just stay back okay?” I say, trying to muster the most reassuring tone I can. She slowly backs away and hides behind a nearby tree. I assumed she would take advantage of the opportunity and run but guess she can’t bring herself to. I ready myself for the monster’s attack. 

After what felt like hours the Beowulf lunges at me, at the last possible second I dodge but still get a scratch on my leg. I wince but despite it stinging really bad it wasn’t a deep cut, I made sure to pay it back though and take a swipe at it’s leg, leaving an even bigger cut.

That only seemed to piss it off though because it immediately turns and takes a swipe at me, I manage to take a step back and avoid getting a deep cut but it does scratch my stomach which again hurts bad but it’s not serious, at least I hope not. It readies itself to take another lunge at me and I prepare for the worst but just as it does a big rock hits it in the back of the head. Surprising me as much as the Beowulf.

“Leave her alone you jerk!” the girl has come out from her hiding spot and is chucking big rocks at the Beowulf. It turns and focuses its attention on her, I think as fast as I can to keep it from hurting her. The only idea I could come up with was to jump up and hook my scythe blade around its neck, pulling as hard as my arms will let me. 

I use all of my strength to hold the blade in place and keep the Beowulf from pulling the blade away from its neck. It’s digging in but not enough to kill it, I desperately try to pull harder but it’s not enough. As I am about to give up hope I suddenly feel it becoming slightly easier to pull, I turn to see the girl behind me pulling as hard as she can.

We keep pulling relentlessly, the beast fighting back against us but just when we think we’ll never be able to kill it, we feel all resistance from the monster stop at once. We both look to see it falling to the ground and turning into dust quickly after. After staring for a bit we both fall to our knees as a wave of relief washes over us. I go to turn towards the girl and ask if she is okay but before I can say anything the girl clings onto me and starts crying, shocking me at first. Eventually I just hug her back, unable to stop myself from crying right along with her.

“Um…” I’m not sure what to say, I mean we basically just shared a life or death experience together and we don’t even know each other's names. I guess that’d be a good place to start. “My name is Ruby, Ruby Rose.”

“I’m..” she sniffles as she slowly starts to calm down. “I’m Weiss, Weiss Schnee...thank you.”

“Hey I couldn’t have pulled it off without your help.”

“Yeah but you wouldn’t have been out here if I hadn’t been dumb and wandered away from my Grandpa’s house without knowing the area.” she says slowly, pulling out of the hug.

“Did you just move here?” I ask, deciding to change the subject. As I do I get to my feet and offer her my hand which she takes, I decide it’d be best to take her back to my house. She isn’t familiar with the area and probably couldn’t find her way back to her Gramps’ house so I figure Dad or Uncle Qrow could help.

On the way back to the house she explains she really wants to go to primary combat school so she can become a Huntress. Her Gramps talked her Dad into letting her come here to Vale for combat school but didn’t exactly explain why, in any case that’s why she came here to live with her Grandpa for a few of years while she attends combat school here instead of Atlas. Though she definitely won’t be allowed to attend Beacon if her Dad has anything to say about it.

Once we make it back to the house I am immediately rushed by Dad, who was apparently worried sick, not that I can blame him. As he briefly scolds me, he starts to tend to my wounds while I explain the situation to him. Luckily he knew who her Grandpa was and he called him up, letting him know that Weiss was here and safe. Dad and Uncle Qrow were super surprised to see her here, the Schnees are apparently kind of a big deal.

I led her up to my room so we could talk privately for a bit while Dad made us some dinner.

“Thanks again..you know for saving me back there.” she looks around my room nervously.

“Like I said don’t mention it, what else was I supposed to do?” I sit on the edge of my bed and motion for her to sit in the chair to my desk.

“You say that but a lot of people...most people would have just run the other way...I’m sorry you got hurt, if I hadn’t wandered off without my weapon...even then I’m not sure how much I could have done, I clearly still have a ways to go.” she looks at her feet.

“Hey it’s okay, you did plenty tonight, I’m sure with enough training you’ll be an amazing Huntress!” I say with a confident smile.

She offers a small smile but I can tell it’s not entirely real. I get a sort of...sad vibe from her I can’t really explain. I meant it though, she seems super smart and she’s a lot stronger and more brave than she gives herself credit for.

“Thank you Ruby.” her cheeks turn a tint of red. “I’d be willing to wager that you’ll be pretty amazing yourself someday, I mean you’re already a good bit of the way there.”

Dad eventually calls us down, unfortunately her Gramps showed up before she could join us for dinner or meet Yang. As she was leaving I waved goodbye and smiled only for her to hug me again. I was a little surprised but I hugged her back which seemed to surprise her for some reason, almost like she was used to not being hugged back.

“Let’s hang out again sometime.” I said.

“Yeah..sounds good” she says slowly breaking the hug. “and Ruby...thank you again, I promise I’ll repay you someday.”

“Sure thing, you can start by believing in yourself more, you are already way more cool than you think.” I smile at her and she smiles back, almost looking like she wants to cry.

After that we both wave goodbye one last time and they head home.

“Well I’d wager that was probably enough excitement for one day, how about we just get in some training tomorrow kiddo?” Uncle Qrow plops down on the couch and offers me a game controller. “We’ve got enough time before dinner to get in a quick game or two.”

“Yeah besides I think that more or less counts as training.” I chuckle and plop down next to him, taking the controller.

“True but uh..try not to make a habit of it, your Dad is playing it cool but I don’t think he’s stopped freaking out yet.” he says, clearly trying to hide the fact that he was super worried too.

“Don’t worry I don’t plan to.” I say smiling at him.

“Good.” he says while smirking which confused me until I heard the game announcer shout ‘Round 2!’

“You cheater, distracting me!” I shout focusing intensely on the game.

We sat and played until it was time to eat dinner which was around the time Yang came home from combat school. She comes bursting through the front door, full of energy as usual. Most people would be exhausted after being gone all day but not her.

“I’m home, dinner smells amazing Dad!” she shouts cheerily, putting her bag down by the door.

“Welcome home Yang!” I run up and hug her.

“Hey there Rubes.” she goes to hug me back but hesitates. She puts her hands on my arms and holds me back, looking me over closely. “Why are you covered in bandages, did something happen?!”

“She’s fine Yang, she is a bit banged up but she’ll live.” Qrow tries to reassure her.

“How do you know, should she go to a doctor?” she asks, officially in full on worried big sister mode.

“Yang, I’m okay really, a little sore but it’s not too bad.” I smile at her trying my best to calm her down.

“How did you get hurt anyway?” she asks, a little more calm but still worked up.

“Well…” I hesitate to tell her because I’m worried she’ll be mad at me.

“Ruby, tell me.” she says with her big sister voice.

“I...I was patrolling near the house and I heard a girl screaming for help...so I ran to help her and it turns out she was being attacked by a Beowulf, that’s how I got hurt.” I look at the ground hoping she doesn’t get too angry.

“You were attacked by a Beowulf?!” she shouts causing me to flinch, which I think she notices because she lowers her voice quite a bit. “Why didn’t you run for help instead of trying to handle it yourself, you barely have any training and you have practically no aura control?”

“I wanted to but I was scared that if I didn’t do something as fast as possible the girl would be hurt really bad or even...die” I give her a determined look. “Besides it’s what you would have done and I don’t regret it.”

“Ruby…” she sighs and runs her fingers through her hair. “So did Uncle Qrow find you and save you guys or what?”

“Nope, the credit belongs entirely to her and that girl, they took it down by themselves.” Uncle Qrow chimes in.

“What?” Yang looks at me with a very surprised expression. “You...You took down a Beowulf?”

“Yeah kinda...the other girl helped though, her name is Weiss.”

“Wow...that’s pretty cool, my little sis took down a Beowulf!” she smiles and hugs me.

“So...you’re not mad?” I ask, hugging her back.

“Well I still don’t like that you charged off on your own but I know you were just doing what you thought was right and the important thing is you aren’ hurt, just don’t make a habit of it okay?” she chuckles lightly and I chuckle in response as she reuses Uncle Qrow’s words.

“Sure thing.” I smile at her and Dad pops out of the kitchen to tell us to come and get dinner before it gets cold, which we do happily.

Yang can be a bit much sometimes but I couldn’t ask for a better big sis. We all sit down and enjoy the big meal that Dad made, it was delicious and exactly what I needed. After dinner I assure everyone I’m okay one last time, tell them I love them and head upstairs to get some sleep, exhausted from the day I had. The scratches from the Beowulf still hurt somewhat but not too bad, especially after Dad patched me up, apparently he got a lot of practice patching up both mine and Yang’s Mom all the time back in the day. I guess Mom was pretty reckless too, like Mother like Daughter I suppose. I lie down on my bed, looking out the window at the shattered moon in the sky.

I lie there thinking about Weiss. At a glance she seems very weak, almost fragile like a porcelain doll but when push came to shove she was very brave tonight. It’s like I told her, if she hadn’t stood up and helped out that likely would’ve gone way worse. She also seems super uptight and fancy, almost like a princess but when you actually sit and talk with her she’s super nice and fun to be around. As I slowly drift off to sleep I find myself hoping that she and I get to be really good friends.


	2. Sun Dragon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for Weiss' first day of Combat School. Will she manage to navigate her first day without messing anything up? Will she make any new friends? Only one way to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick note guys, the first five or so chapters to this story are already pretty much pre-written I just need to make some changes to them and proofread them before they go up but that's about it. So you will see a fairly quick turn around for the first five or so chapters but after that it will slow down a bit since I will be working from scratch at that point.
> 
> Enough from me though, I hope you enjoy the chapter and thanks for reading!

WEISS SCHNEE 

That morning I got up extra early to make sure I could get ready for school in time and still make Grandpa breakfast. He doesn’t expect it or anything and in all honesty Klein could probably just make it for him. Regardless, I want to repay him for convincing Father to let me come here and repay Klein for agreeing to come and keep an eye on me. I know he really had to push hard for that and if it weren't for the both of them I’d still be stuck at home. I appreciate it very much, I just...couldn’t stay there anymore, I needed to get away for awhile.

I flip on the TV in the kitchen and see that Vox News is on. I prepare to change the station but before I do a loud sound plays and a breaking news banner flies across the screen.

“This just in, recent reports suggest that Atlas and Mystral known for their close relationship in regards to tech and trade, appear to be fostering an even closer relationship as strange Atlas run construction sites are being reported all across the continent of Anima.” says the reporter.

What in the world could that possibly be about?

“We don’t have any solid information at this time but some eyewitnesses have reported seeing massive military presence around the construction sites, even when located inside well guarded city centers that shouldn’t require such heavy security, we’ll deliver you more on this story as it develops.”

Just as I begin to imagine what Atlas could be up to now I hear the familiar sound of dress shoes clicking on the tile floor of the kitchen. I turn to see Klein looking rather surprised.

“Good morning Klein, I made breakfast.” I offer him a smile and begin making a plate for him.

“Yes I see, you know you don’t have to do that Miss Schnee, I would be more than happy to.” he says.

“I know but I wanted to, besides you do so much for me already, the least I can do is feed you now and then.” I place a plate of food on the table and motion for him to sit.

“Very well...just promise you’ll allow me to cook now and then.” he says with a lighthearted chuckle. He sits at the table and begins eating, apparently enjoying it based on the smile on his face, which makes me happy.

“Deal, on one condition.”

“What would that be?”  
“Just call me Weiss when we are here.” I say with a smile.

“As you wish..Weiss.”

“Thank you.” I look over at the clock and see that I need to head out if I want to make it to school in time. I hurriedly grab my Scroll, my bag and Myrtenaster as I rush for the door. “I really need to head out now Klein, tell Grandpa good morning for me when he comes down.”

“Oh Miss Sch- I mean Weiss, I really wish you’d let me escort you, your Grandfather and I worry especially after that incident yesterday.” Klein shoots me a worried look.

“Thanks Klein but I’ll be okay if I just stick to the path this time.” I smile at him.

“If you insist, please just...be careful.”

“I will don’t worr-” I start to say but as I open the door I am immediately greeted by Ruby, looking like she was about to knock on the door.

“Hey Weiss!” she shouts with a big grin on her face accompanied by a faint embarrassed blush.

“Ruby?” I ask, still surprised to see her. I mean she would’ve had to have gotten up very early to be here at this time, it’s at least a couple hours of walking between our houses.

“Who else would it be?” she asks, still smiling brightly.

“I’m just surprised to see you I guess” I turn to introduce her to Klein not really sure how else to react. “Ruby this is Klein one of my oldest friends and Klein this is Ruby, the girl from yesterday.”

“Hiya, glad to meet you sir!” Ruby greets him cheerfully.

“L-Likewise” Klein responds, just as surprised as I am I guess before giving her a bow. “I greatly appreciate you helping our Weiss with her..predicament yesterday, I am in your debt.”

“Don’t mention it, she was in trouble so I helped, any decent person would’ve done it.” she nervously rubs the back of her head.

“Oh geez, sorry Ruby but I really have to get going, my first day of combat school starts in an hour.” I say looking at my scroll.

“That’s okay I’ll walk with you.” she backs up a bit so I can step outside.

“You don’t have to do that Ruby.”

“I want to though, I was hoping to talk to you some more.” I can’t help but smile back, she has such an infectious smile.

“Alright if you insist, I’ll see you after school Klein.” I wave goodbye to him.

“Have a good day.” he waves back smiling before closing the door behind us. I'll bet he is kind of relieved that Ruby is walking with me.

“So Weiss, you excited for your first day?” she asks “I can’t wait to go to combat school, right now I just train with my Uncle Qrow.”

“I guess excited would be the right word for it or maybe anxious, I’m not a super great fighter yet, though that was probably obvious from yesterday.” I look down at my feet embarrassed.

“Technique wise sure but you definitely have what it takes to be awesome Weiss, when it came down to it you stepped up, don’t forget that.” I look up at her and see her smiling at me reassuringly. Once again I can’t hold back a smile myself. She has such a warm aura and she’s so kind.

“Thank you Ruby, that means a lot.” I turn my gaze back toward the path ahead.

“Oh is that your weapon!?” Ruby points excitedly toward the sword on my hip.

“Y-Yeah I call it Myrtenaster.” I pull my sword out of the holster.

“Wow, it's sooo cooool!” she exclaims practically begging with her eyes to hold it.

“Would you like to hold it Ruby?” I ask the extremely obvious question.

“Yes please!” she gives the extremely obvious answer before holding out her hands. I hand it to her and she starts looking it over like a child with a new toy, it’s almost cute. “A rapier with quad loading dust cylinders, did you design this yourself?”

“Yes and no, I did most of it but my big sister helped a lot.”

“Well you guys did an amazing job, I hope when I design my weapon it comes out even a fraction as cool as this.” she hands it back to me and I put it back into its holster.

“I’m sure your weapon will be very...cool Ruby, especially if you stick with the scythe as a base, very dangerous if misused but very effective in skilled hands.”

“Yeah I more or less just picked the scythe because I wanted to be like my Uncle Qrow.” she sticks out her tongue a little, embarrassed. “It really has grown on me though, who knows, someday I could be just as strong and cool as him.”

“I have complete faith you will be one of the most amazing Huntresses ever Ruby.” I say before realizing what I just said and looking away embarrassed.

“Thanks Weiss.” I slowly turn to look back at her and see that she is smiling sweetly. “That’s super nice of you to say.”

“N-Not at all.” I say smiling back at her.

We continue walking and talking for a while before we eventually reach my school. Signal Academy, one of the best primary combat schools on Remnant. Founded alongside the Huntsman Academies shortly after the Great War. I’ve been looking forward to this day for a while....so why do I feel like I’m about to puke.

“Hey Weiss.” I turn to look at Ruby who puts her hand on my shoulder and gives me a reassuring look. “Don’t worry, you’re gonna be awesome.”

“Yeah..thanks Ruby.” I offer her a nervous smile before taking a deep breath and walking up the steps to the entrance. I hesitate for a moment to step through the door but then..

“Go get em Weiss, you got this!” I hear Ruby cheer from behind me. Giving me just enough strength to pull the door open and step through, taking my first real step towards becoming a Huntress.

I walk through the halls noticing that they are nearly empty. I check my scroll and see that class starts in..crap five minutes, I better find my class quickly! This can’t seriously be happening on my first day! I pick up the pace, frantically looking around but I can’t seem to find it, as I round a corner I very nearly bump into someone.

“Woah where’s the fire?” the girl asks.

“S-Sorry I just really need to find my class.” I offer a small bow in apology. This girl is rather tall, at least compared to me. She also has beautiful, long, blonde hair and lilac colored eyes.

“First day huh?” she has already moved past the fact that I nearly slammed into her. “So who’s your teacher?”

“Um Miss Ivy.” I show her my acceptance letter.

“No kiddin?” she smirks and grabs my arm, pulling em along. “Same here newbie, I’ll show you the way.”

“Th-Thanks I guess.” This girl is much more forward than most people I’ve met in my life. Come to think of it so is Ruby, must just be normal here.

“Don’t mention it.” she says with a smile that seems somewhat familiar. “Here we are.” 

We stop in front of a door labeled Class 1-A. She pulls me inside and all the other students in class suddenly stop and look at us. At first I think they are looking at me but those fears are dashed pretty quickly.

“You are cutting it really close Yang!” a girl with pink hair and dog ears shouts out.

“Hey just cause you beat me to class ONE time doesn’t mean you get to have a big head now!” Yang shouts back with a big grin. Everyone is either smiling at her or beckoning them to come talk to her, she must be really popular. I slowly walk inside and sit down in one of the only two empty seats left.

“Well well looks like we are gonna be desk neighbors.” The girl who I assume to be named Yang says plopping down in the desk next to me.

“Yeah I-I guess so.”

“Let’s get along okay.” she leans back in her desk and grins at me.

“Yeah..sure” I say smiling nervously back before the teacher comes in and tells everyone to sit down and get ready for class. Introducing herself to all the first day students, meaning I’m not the only one in this class I guess. Then she asks us to come up and introduce ourselves, I end up going last.

“Hello my name is Weiss Schnee, I’m currently living here with my Grandpa and I look forward to spending the year with you all.” I say trying hard to smile and not be embarrassed before offering a brief bow. I’m not sure if anyone looked at me weird or not, I rushed back to my seat before I could see.

We spent the first few hours studying normal school subjects. Math, History, Science, ext. Then we moved on to weapon forging and maintenance, I was one of the few first days there who had already forged their weapon so I just had to focus on maintenance.

“Cool weapon Weiss.” Yang leans over and inspects Myrtenaster.

“Thanks, what is yours?” I ask. In response she pulls up her arms to reveal two golden gauntlets with blast dust cylinders. Essentially shotgun gauntlets.

“Cool right?” she does a boxing pose with them. “I call them Ember Celica.”

“Yeah very...cool, so you’re a power type fighter?”

“More or less, I learned a lot of what I know from my Dad, he’s a great fighter.”

“Yeah sounds like it, my sister taught me what little I know but we didn’t get a lot of training opportunities.” I almost allow myself to drift into sadness but I quickly change the subject back to Yang.”So you must be really good.”

“You know it.” she slams her fist into her hand. “My sister is probably gonna end up being way better than me though, I mean she’s only twelve and she’s already killed a Grimm.”

“She has?” I ask as a sudden thought pops into my head. “Your sister...wouldn’t happen to use a scythe would she?”

“Yeah she does.” Yang then looks at me with a weirdly knowing look.

“Your sister is Ruby!?”

“Nailed it, I was wondering when I would get to meet you.” she says with a chuckle.

“So...your sister is Ruby?” I ask. “That kinda explains a lot, she must have told you about last night.”

“Yep she wouldn’t stop talking about you.” she raises an eyebrow. “ Also What do you mean by ‘explains a lot’ huh?”

“Oh I just mean you are both very cheerful and outgoing.” I say raising my hands defensively. She just laughs.

“At ease, I knew what you meant.” Was she just messing with me? “So we got sparring class next, hope we get to go a round or two, I wanna see what you can do.”

“Y-Yeah.” I turn my attention back to my weapon before whispering under my breath “Just don’t expect much…”

Once we were done with forging and maintenance we were all led to a large open gymnasium, full of training equipment. In the middle was a large squared off arena. I feel like I am carrying a large sack of rocks on my back, not really looking forward to my first sparring match.

“Okay so keep in mind that this is only sparring so the fight is over when your aura level drops to red, one of you taps out or I say so.” Miss Ivy says walking up to the front of the arena. “So any volunteers?”

“We wanna give it a go teach!” Yang shouts and raises her hand. At the same time I suddenly feel her grab my arm and raise it into the air.

“Yang I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.” I say under my breath.

“Don’t worry I’ll go easy on you.” she smirks at me.

“Alright then, step into the arena.” Miss Ivy waves for us to step forward. I audibly gulp and step forward into the arena, Myrtenaster in hand.

Yang steps into the other side of the arena and gets back into the same boxing pose she showed me earlier. She looks like she’s practically bouncing with excitement and I am struggling to stay focused. Stay calm Weiss, just remember what Winter taught you. Keep your breathing steady, head up, shoulders back, right foot forward..okay maybe not that forward. I’m over analyzing, just be in the moment. I’m tempted to look around and see if anyone is laughing at my awkward positioning but I resist and stay focused on Yang.

I look up at the large display on the gym wall and see both mine and Yang’s portraits along with a long green bar beside each, presumably representing our current Aura levels.

“I want a good clean fight girls, remember when you hear the buzzer that means you can begin and when you hear it a second time that means stop, period.” Miss Ivy says very sternly. “Now are you ready.”

“Born ready!” Yang shouts with the most confidence I’ve ever seen in a person.

“R-Ready!” I shout trying not to sound as nervous as I am.

After a few agonizing moments the sound of the buzzer finally goes off and before I can even react, Yang has already launched herself at me and landed a punch, I manage to block it with my arms in a panic but that was a rookie mistake because it still chipped away at my aura even if not as much. 

I begin to berate myself for not dodging or at least blocking with my weapon but my thoughts are cut short by the sight of another punch coming right for me. During the fight I hear the other students cheering ‘Sun Dragon’ over and over. Must be a nickname or something.

I luckily manage to use a glyph to launch myself up and over her at the last possible second. It’s a good thing I managed to get that trick down at least but I barely stick the landing and I stumble. I try to quickly regain my footing and turn to take a stab at Yang before she can react but as soon as I turn I see that she has managed to not only already turn to face me but she manages to duck under my stab and then pounce back up to nearly land an uppercut on me.

I managed to jump back in time to not take the full force of the hit but she still grazed me. I glance briefly over at the board to see my Aura levels are already down by a third while I haven’t even landed a hit on Yang. Not that I’m surprised…I shake off the feeling of doubt, I’ll have plenty of time to be down on myself later, I gotta focus. Suddenly I hear Ruby’s voice ringing in my head ‘Go get em Weiss!’ I get back into a battle ready stance.

I just don’t have the reflexes yet to properly counter and dodge her hits on my own, she is on a whole other level than me right now. I could try that trick, the one Winter was teaching me right before I left home but..I could never really get that one down. Then again what do I have to lose, I’m doomed either way. So I raise Myrtenaster, pointing just up and behind Yang creating a glyph. Then I make another and another, both to each side of her. This is taking much more time and focus than it should but luckily she seems confused by what I’m doing because she’s not stopping me, either that or she is just being cocky and waiting to see what I’m gonna try. Either way, works for me.

I create one final glyph behind me and take a quick breath. Well here goes nothing. I jump up and plant my feet on the glyph behind me and then I kick off as I activate the glyph, launching me forward toward the glyph just behind Yang. She seems surprised but quickly turns to try and stop me. I raise Myrtenaster into a striking position and launch myself forward again, managing to land a hit. I don’t stop to celebrate though, instead I continue launching myself between the glyphs, trying to go as fast as I can because I know if I don’t drop Yang’s aura before she gets her bearings back it's over.

Just as I feel this plan just might work, Yang blasts the ground near her feet, launching herself into the air which causes me to miss. Worse than that though, I hear another blast above me and just as I look up I see her right in front of me. She lands a huge hit, sending me falling back down onto the ground. With that the buzzer sounds and I look up to see that my aura has dropped to almost nothing. I mean I figured I was gonna lose but, for a moment I actually thought I might win. 

“Wow you nearly had me there!” I hear Yang shout and I look over to see her offering me a hand and a smile.

“Are you serious, you blew me away?” I ask as I take her hand and she pulls me up.

“I mean I had you on the fence for a lot of the fight but that maneuver you pulled towards the end was awesome!” she points up at the display. “See, it was closer than you think.”

I look up at the display, this time at Yang’s bar and see that..it's nearly halfway down. Wow…

“You gotta have more confidence in yourself Weiss, you are stronger than you think.” I look back over at Yang and see she is smiling and flashing me a thumbs up. She really is a very nice person, it must run in the family I think, as I feel a small smile creep across my face. “Hey you okay?”

“Y-Yeah I’m fine..thanks Yang.” I say as I realize tears had started to form in my eyes and I quickly wipe them away.

She gently pats me on the back and we head over to the bleachers to sit and watch the other students matches. Throughout the class other students come over and tell me how ‘awesome’ I was and that they ‘never saw anyone get that close to beating Yang’ I think they might be overstating their case a little but...I’d be lying if I said it didn’t feel good.

Once we were done sparring we went about the rest of a normal school day. Lunch, more normal classes, and so on. As the day carried on I found myself feeling less and less awkward and out of place, eventually it was finally time to head home. As soon as Yang and I finished class we walked outside and were immediately greeted by Ruby and her Uncle Qrow.

“Weiss, Yang!” Ruby shouts and immediately runs up and hugs us both. I blush a little at first but that quickly fades and I slowly hug her back.

“Hey there Rubes, what are you doing here?” Yang asks as she hugs her back.

“She really wanted to greet her big sis and ‘new bestie’ as soon as they got out of class.” Qrow says with a chuckle.

“New bestie?” I ask confused.

“Uncle Qrow, I was supposed to bring that up!” Ruby turns and shouts at her Uncle.

“Yeah yeah, anyway I’m here because Tai was worried after their little incident and asked me to escort her, he’s busy cooking dinner.”

“I asked Uncle Qrow and he said it’s okay that we walk you home first before we go home.” Ruby flashes a smile at me.

“That really isn’t necessary Ruby, besides I’m sure Yang is tired.” A look of disappointment begins to spread on Ruby’s face but before it has a chance to finish Yang chimes in.

“Nah I’m good, I don’t mind escorting you home newbie.”

“Well..if you’re sure.”

“Yay!” Ruby shouts “Lets get going!”

Ruby grabs both mine and Yang’s hands then we all start walking back in the direction of my Grandpa’s house. Yang and Ruby both talk loudly and cheerfully the whole way. I occasionally chime in and just smile at their antics. You can tell they are really close as sisters.

“So Weiss?” Ruby asks looking away slightly and blushing.

“Yes Ruby?”

“About what Uncle Qrow said earlier..I was wondering if..if you wanted to be best friends!” she kind of shouts the last part. I am a little taken back by the question, the closest thing I ever had to be a best friend was Winter or Klein. I’ve never really had that many friends in general. I think about it for a moment, hesitating for reasons I can’t even explain myself but finally I speak up.

“Yeah..I don’t see why not.”

“Awesome!” she shouts and jumps up, pulling me into a tight walking hug. 

“Careful, you are gonna pull me to the ground.” I say nearly falling over.

“S-Sorry!” she says pulling away and laughing nervously.

“It’s okay...just try to be more careful, it’s not like it was altogether unpleasant or anything.” I say, unable to just say I liked the hug.

“I don’t know if we are ready for bestie status quite yet but you can also count me as a friend, lucky you.” Yang says, smirking at me.

“Y-Yeah...thanks..both of you.”

The rest of the walk we just continue talking and laughing. Qrow hangs back a bit for some reason, maybe he just doesn’t want to be involved in ‘kid’ conversation, who knows. Once we make it back to the house I give them both a hug and wave goodbye before slowly closing the door behind me.

I put Myrtenaster in its case beside the front door and plop my school bag on the nearby bench, taking a deep breath before slowly sliding down to the floor with my back against the door.

“Oh Weiss, you’re home, how was sch-” Klein starts to ask but then he runs over to me concerned, kneeling down next to me and dabbing away my tears with his handkerchief. “Are you okay, why are you crying?”

“Today..” I say sniffling slightly.

“What happened, were any of the other students awful to you?” he asks but I shake my head. I lift my head and reveal that despite my tears I am smiling from ear to ear.

“Today was one of the best days I have had..in a really long time.”


	3. Surprise!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby is doing her best, with the help of friends and family, to give Weiss the best birthday ever. While trying to keep her out of the house, so the others can prepare, Ruby is exposed to a darker side of being close to a Schnee, will this effect their friendship?

RUBY ROSE

I add the finishing touches to Weiss’s birthday banner, making sure that I make it as close to perfect as I possibly can.

“Aaaaand done, how is the present wrapping going Yang?”

“It’s going, I still have to wrap the ones from Dad and Uncle Qrow.” she says, a small pile of presents sitting beside her.

“Awesome!” I get up and run to the kitchen.

“How is the cake coming Dad?” I peek inside the kitchen just as Dad is pulling it out of the oven.

“Don’t worry sweetie, everything is going to be great, I promise.” he sits it down on the counter to cool.

“I know, I just really want to give Weiss an awesome birthday!” I run over and hug him. “Thanks again for helping by the way, it means a lot to me.”

“Are you kidding?” he bends over slightly and hugs me back. “Weiss is practically family at this point, heck she’s been over here every other day for nearly a year now.”

“I just really love spending time with her, she’s my best friend.” I slowly pull away from the hug, grabbing my bag.

“I know trust me, just remember that you need to keep Weiss out of her house for a few hours so we can head over there and set everything up.”

“I remember, I’ll distract her as long as I can.” I offer my Dad a salute and a smile. I also walk over and give Yang a hug from behind before heading out the front door. I hop on the bike Dad got me for my birthday and pedal off towards Weiss’ house.

After about a half hour of peddling I finally stop in front of Weiss’ house, chaining my bike to the tree in their front yard and running up the front door. I excitedly press the doorbell and moments later Weiss’ butler Klein answers the door.

“Ah, young Miss Rose, how good to see you.” he says with a smile.

“Good to see you too Klein, is Weiss ready yet?” I ask grinning only to be greeted by the sight of her walking down the stairs. She isn’t dressed fancy really but not quite as casual as when we usually hang out. She looks really..I’m not really sure how to describe it, pretty is the only word that comes to mind but that’s normal for her.

“Sorry, hope I didn’t keep you waiting, had a little trouble with my blow dryer again.” she says as she grabs her purse from the hook by the door.

“Don’t worry about it, I just got here, you ready to head out?” I ask.

“Yeah, I’m looking forward to it.” she says with a smile.

“She’s been ecstatic all day.” Klein says with a slight chuckle.

“Oh hush Klein.” She says only slightly annoyed but lightly blushing. She grabs my hand and starts leading me away. “Come on Ruby.”

“We’ll be back later!” I wave at Klein and offer a small wink.

“Have fun and be safe.” He waves and winks back at me before closing the door.

“So how have things been in the Schnee estate lately?” I ask, putting my arms behind my back and skipping slightly as we walk.

“They’ve been fine..I suppose.”

“What do you mean?”

“Grandpa has just been sort of..distant lately, rarely coming down for dinner these days, just sitting in his room and talking on the phone a lot..he kinda sounds angry when he does.” she looks down at her feet. She seems kinda bummed so I decide to change the subject.

“Any way I figured we’d grab a bite to eat and just chill at the arcade for a while.” I turn to face her, walking backwards with my hands behind my head.

“Sounds good to me, I still need to pay you back for beating me at Grimm Fighter 2 the other day.” she says, seemingly snapped out of her down mood.

“I think you mean beating you ten times.” I say which earns me a playful shove.

“I’ll get you this time Ruby Rose, just you watch.” she crosses her arms and looks away, puffing her cheeks out.

“Come on bestie, you know I’m just teasing.” I jump toward her, wrapping my arms around her in a tight hug.

“Why must you always hug me every five minutes.” she turns red and starts trying to pry me off, unsuccessfully.

“You know you love it!” 

“Where do you think you’re going?” we hear a voice say as we pass the park near the arcade. We turn to see a group of faunus, who look a little older than Weiss and Yang, seemingly just hanging out at the park. Regardless they are all looking at us, especially Weiss, pretty menacingly as they are now walking toward us.

“We were just heading to the arcade.” I say, hoping to just walk past them.

“Oh is that so?” the biggest one with snake scales under his eyes says as they move in our way. He has a big buster sword on his back.

“What’s it to you?” Weiss asks, refusing to look at them.

“Hey you watch your mouth spoiled little-!” The one with tiger claws and a whip on his hip starts to yell before getting cut off by who I assume is their leader, walking in front of them and raising his hand, signalling them to be quiet I guess. He has a long grey fox tail and is smaller than the other two, but they definitely take orders from him, also he has what looks like a bladed six shooter on his hip. 

At first I wonder why they have their weapons in town even though they aren’t licensed but then I look closely at their arms and see that they are wearing white armbands, with the symbol of that group they talk about on the news, the White Fang.

“You aren’t welcome in this town Schnee, the least you could do is not show your face around here outside of school hours.” he says as he brushes his grey hair out of his face, revealing a pair of bright yellow eyes that are shooting a threatening glare our way. I don’t remember ever seeing these guys around, maybe they are new.

“I haven’t done anything to you.” she says, trembling slightly. Not so much out of fear although I’m sure that’s part of it … it’s more anger or frustration. Regardless I don’t think it’d be good for us if this got violent, Weiss and I didn’t bring our weapons but they all have theirs. I really do wanna deck these jerks for upsetting Weiss but it wouldn’t be the best call right now.

“Your family is directly responsible for a great amount of suffering for the faunus.” the leader takes a step forward, bending over so he is only an inch from Weiss’ face. “The mere sight of you makes me want to puke, so do me a favor and go get eaten by a Beowulf.”

“Hey!” I shout in his face surprising Weiss and even him a little, that last tidbit really really ticking me off. “Why don’t you just back off, Weiss isn’t hurting anyone, why do you have to be such a jerk!?”

The silence in the air after that was thick. I kind of regretted popping off like that pretty soon afterward, but I couldn’t just let him talk to Weiss like that! After a few moments of silence the leader let out a sigh.

“A Schnee sympathizer is no better than a Schnee, Jussuf.” the leader snaps his fingers and the one with tiger claws lunges forward and punches me in the gut. He knocks all the air out of me and I fall to my knees.

“Ruby!” Weiss attempts to bolt to my side but the big one points his buster sword between us, cutting her off. She glares at them angrily, her fists trembling. She really wants to clobber these guys but she knows that even with what hand to hand she’s learned so far, she doesn’t stand much chance against three armed thugs. Just as it looks like things are about to get really bad, another voice chimes in.

“Wow real tough guys, picking on a couple of unarmed teens!” we all turn to see two more faunus also wearing the arm bands. One a girl with dark red hair down to her shoulders and bags under her eyes from lack of sleep. The other a boy with dark blue shaggy hair, both with owl wings and aside from their hair color they look very similar. They are both also armed with what look like nearly identical swords with odd handles.

“Stay out of this Dawn, we are teaching this Schnee and her sympathizer a lesson.” the leader says, he and his goons now glaring at them. They don’t really seem to get along despite being in the same group.

“Grey, Dawn is the one in charge around here, it seems you have forgotten your place.” the red haired girl chimes in, shooting them a glare that I’m pretty sure could kill.

“Grey is doing what Dawn is too afraid to and actually doing something around here, what is the point of the arm bands if we just sit on our asses all day!” Tiger claw boy responds snarling.

“Jussuf...if you or Grey or Jormun have an issue with my orders you are welcome to challenge me.” that Dawn guy pulls his sword out of its sheath and points it at them which causes them all to flinch. “Your funeral.”

After a few moments of staring each other down, Grey just snaps his fingers and turns to walk away with his goons. This guy must be really tough if he made all three of them back down so easily. As they leave I hear the Grey guy whisper under his breath ‘this isn’t over’.

Weiss rushes to my side and grabs my arm, gently helping me up off the ground. Looking me over to make sure I’m okay, which I’d be lying if I said didn’t make me feel kinda happy.

“I hope they didn’t do too much damage.” Dawn asks as he walks over to us with the girl right beside him.

“I-I’m fine, thanks for the back up.” I say chuckling which earns a chuckle from him in response.

“No problem, gotta keep my subordinates in check after all.”

“Why..why would you help me?” Weiss asks, looking genuinely confused now that the danger has passed, like someone showed her a Grimm cuddling with a human instead of mauling them.

“Don’t get us wrong Schnee, we don’t care for your family, not after all the harm they’ve done but those rational among us place most of that blame on Papa Schnee and little to none on some kid who has no control over the situation they were born into.” Dawn says putting his sword back into the sheathe. “Would kind of make us hypocrites if we did, besides I don’t know about other branches of the Fang but I am not in the business of harming defenseless teenagers.”

Weiss legitimately doesn’t seem to know how to respond. She must have a million things running through her head right now.

“I don’t doubt you’ve had bad experiences with the Fang in the past but Dawn is one of the few keeping the original vision of the organization alive, we only fight when we have to out of self defense or in defense of others.” the girl finally chimes in again after remaining silent for awhile.

“Well..thank you...for your help.” Weiss looks away from them. I expect them to get upset but Dawn just gives a sort of sad look of understanding. He really does seem like a very nice guy.

“No problem, it’s probably best you head home for today though, until I can really deal with those three and not just scare them off.” he says softly.

“Yeah..that’s probably a good idea.” I say grabbing Weiss’ hand. “Thanks again Dawn and…”

“Dusk.”

“Dawn and Dusk, got it, thanks.” I smile at them before gently pulling Weiss back towards the direction of her house.

Weiss Schnee

The whole walk home I barely look up from my feet. I’m still kind of in shock, I always thought the White Fang was full of savages and brutes, that the lot of them were just murderous criminals but...those two saved us. They were even...nice to me. It just doesn’t add up.

“Hey Weiss..you okay?” I turn to Ruby and see a look of real concern on her face.

“Y-Yeah I’m fine, look I’m sorry about all that.” I say, furious that our day out was ruined by those brutes.

“Why are YOU apologizing?”

“Ruby...the only reason that happened was because you were with me..” I feel tears starting to well up. “Those people have been messing with my life as long as I can remember and people close to me always end up affected too so I’d understand if you were to rethink our friendshi-.”

“I’m missing the part where that’s your fault.” she moves in front of me, prompting me to stop and look up at her and see that she is giving me a rare stern look. “Weiss Schnee, I don’t ever want to hear you blame yourself for what some jerks did ever again you’re my friend and you always will be, nothing they or anyone else does will change that so you're stuck with me got it?”

“Ruby…” the tears are now falling as I lunge at her, wrapping my arms around her neck and pulling her into a hug. She just gently wraps her arms around me and returns the hug, pulling me a bit closer.

We stay there a little while, Ruby just holding me as I cry. The minute those thugs stopped us in the street, what I was most afraid of was that it would drive a wedge in between Ruby and I….I guess I should’ve known better. It’s happened before sure but then again, I’ve never met anyone like Ruby before.

Eventually we break the hug as I wipe any remaining tears from my eyes. We continue walking home, discussing how we’d make up for missing out on the arcade by playing games at home, maybe watching a movie. Once we finally approach the house I see Ruby checking her watch and looking somewhat relieved.

“Why are you checking your watch?”

“Oh uh, no reason!” she says very defensively, putting her arms behind her back. Before I have the chance to question why she is acting so weird, I open the door to Grandpa’s house, only to be greeted by the sound of party poppers and confetti falling on my head.

“SURPRISE!” Everyone shouts as they jump from behind their hiding spots. I look around and see Ruby’s Dad, Yang,their Uncle Qrow, some of our classmates, Klein, and Grandpa all wearing party hats. I also see a big banner hanging above them that says Happy Birthday with a small doodle of Ruby and I on the side that says besties with a wink face. No doubt Ruby’s work.

Klein and Yang walk up to me holding a huge birthday cake that says Happy Birthday Weiss, all the other guests flanking them on either side. As Grandpa puts a party hat on my head, I look around one last time, taking it all in. As the realization slowly washes over me, my look of shock fades, what few tears I have left welling in the corners of my eyes.

Everyone immediately looks concerned and starts asking if I’m okay.

“Weiss dear, are you okay?” Grandpa asks as he touches my shoulder. I just quickly wipe away the tears and flash as big a smile as I can muster.

“I-I’m fine, thank you all so much!”

“Don’t thank us, Ruby is the one that put all this together.” Yang says, motioning toward Ruby beside me.

“Ruby, did you really?” I ask.

“Y-Yeah, you always said how you never really had any birthdays you have good memories of so...I wanted to change that.” she pokes her index fingers together, blushing a little. I just respond by pulling her into another big hug.

“You big dolt…” I hug her a little tighter and whisper so only she can hear. “I’m the luckiest girl in the world to have met you Ruby Rose.”

“So is the birthday girl going to blow out her candles?” Klein asks.

“S-Sure!” I pull away and turn to face everyone, blowing out the candles on the cake with a big breath. Everyone starts clapping and saying happy birthday.

Afterwards we all sit and eat cake, talking and playing games on the tv in the living room. Yang and Ruby being the best out of all of us, until they convince Qrow to join in and he wipes the floor with them. Once everything calms down we sit in the den and I open my presents from everyone.

Yang got me a home copy of Grimm Fighter 2. Their Dad Taiyang got me a digital picture frame loaded with pictures of Ruby, Yang and I. Qrow got me a watch, I don’t really wear watches but at least he put in the effort. Our classmates all brought various small trinkets and movies, things like that, which I appreciate. All that was left was Ruby’s gift and the gift from Klein and Grandpa plus...a mystery gift.

“Who is that one from?” I ask pointing to the third gift.

“Why don’t you go ahead and open that one before you get to the rest?” Klein asks, handing it to me.

“S-Sure.” I take it from him and slowly open it to reveal a brand new hip pouch for dust cartridges. Who would get me this? I then notice a card under it. I open it up and read it. ‘Dearest Sister’ is written at the very top. “Winter sent me a gift?”

“Of course dear, you know your sister loves you very much even if she isn’t the best at showing it sometimes.” Grandpa replies, sipping from his mug. I just grip the pouch and smile.

“Yeah I know…”

“Well I’d say it's about time you opened your gift from Klein and your old Grandpa” he says pointing to the biggest one, which strangely has holes poked into it.

“Okay.” I say as I walk over to it, getting onto my knees to open it up. As soon as I do I see something that immediately plasters a big smile on my face. “No way...you got me a kitty!?”

“Sure did, it was Kleins idea, he knew how much you’ve been wanting a pet..” he responds.

“True but your grandfather paid for her and settled it with your parents already.” Klein ads as I pick the kitty up out of the box and snuggle it. I really do love animals but father would never let me own a pet, says they are too filthy.

“Thank you so much Grandpa and Klein!” I say, getting up at hugging them both.

“No need to thank us Weiss, we are just happy to see our happy little snowflake smile.” Klein says with a warm smile, hugging me back.

“Aye, one hundred percent!” Grandpa responds with a gruff laugh. “So what are you going to name her?”

“Hmmm..” I look at her thinking hard. She is small and snow white with blue eyes. After giving it some thought I smile and turn to them. “I think I’ll name her Snowflake.”

“That is a wonderful name.” Klein smiles, obviously picking up on my homage. I pick up Snowflake and put her in my lap as I sit back on the couch. Ruby slowly walks up to me and hands me her gift.

“My gift isn’t going to be as good as a cute kitty or anything but...I hope you like it.”

“Oh hush you dolt, of course I will.” I take the small box from her and open it up. Inside is what looks like a handcrafted bracelet. It has two small gems, one red and one white and a silver tag that says besties. I look up to thank her and see that she has a nearly identical bracelet on her arm.

“I just figured...with these, no matter where we are, all we have to do is look at these bracelets and we’ll never forget each other.” she says with a slightly embarrassed smile.

“Ruby...I love it, I really do.” I smile and put the bracelet on my own wrist, earning a super sweet smile from Ruby as well as another hug. Being careful not to smush Snowflake in the process, she hugs me tighter.

“We’ll always be friends, right Weiss?” she whispers. I reach to hug her back only hesitating for a moment.

“Always Ruby.”


	4. Spiteful Retribution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weiss and Yang square off in the arena, a year having passed since their very first sparring match. Will things turn out different for Weiss this time? Thats not the only thing that Weiss has to worry about as danger lurks just around the corner.

WEISS SCHNEE

This time for sure. This time I will definitely be able to beat Yang, at least that’s what I’m choosing to tell myself as I am staring her down in the middle of sparring class. It’s been at least a year since we fought for the first time and we’ve both improved so much, hopefully I’ve just improved more.

“Yo Weiss, you ready or what?” Yang calls out from across the arena with that typical cocky smirk plastered across her face.

“Y-Yes, of course I am.”

“Alright then.” As the start bell rings, Yang is already charging at me head on. Her form is great, she leaves very little room for me to get her from the front.

I create a series of gravity glyphs on the floor in front of me and charge forward at top speeds. Yang seems surprised by this as I normally would just move out of the way but this is part of my plan. Just as we are about to collide I create a glyph just below me that launches me into the air. I quickly follow up by creating another glyph in the air that launches me behind her and without thinking I turn and swing. 

I tried something similar in our first fight but this time it actually worked! I managed to get in the first hit. Unfortunately Yang quickly follows that hit by ducking to the ground and doing a sweeping kick which manages to knock me to the ground. I am momentarily distracted by the pain in my back before realizing that she is about to follow up with an overhand punch. I quickly roll out of the way and get to my feet just in time to receive a swift punch from Yang. Without even looking at my aura level I know that took a pretty hefty chunk. She goes in for another hit but I react just in time to block her fist with Myrtenaster causing a small shock wave.

“Dang Weiss, you’re definitely not the same nervous shaky girl I met a year ago.” she says with a wide smirk, grunting as she continues to try and break my guard.

“Yeah well you’ve only become even more amazing Yang, you’re like a human Tank.”

“I guess I’ll take that as a compliment but it’s time to end this fight.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” I give a smirk of my own before creating a motion with my free hand and suddenly Yang finds herself being pulled towards the ground. I learned not long ago how to make my gravity glyphs work in reverse, I haven’t mastered it meaning that I can only hold it for about ten seconds but that should be enough.

I follow up with the same technique I tried on the first day of school and create several glyphs around her. It takes me far less time to create and maintain multiple glyphs this time around and I launch myself towards the first glyph. I launch myself between them at rapid speed, much faster than last time and chip away at her aura with each hit I manage to land. Just as I am about to land the final hit I notice her eyes turn red and through sheer will power she manages to break free of my glyphs hold and punch the ground hard, sending out a shockwave that knocks me back.

You’ve gotta be kidding me, since when do her eyes change color and how is she strong enough to break free from my glyph. Yang is strong but this, this is on a whole other level. Before I can question the situation further Yang charges at me but this time I barely manage to raise my sword in time to block it, not that it matters because the force of this hit is enough to send me flying and I end up just on the edge of the arena. I sit up, wincing in pain at being knocked on my back again.

In no longer time than it took me to sit up Yang was already right on top of me, preparing for another overhead punch. I didn’t have time to dodge this time around and I nearly accepted that I had lost again but then I suddenly remembered something I had learned during another sparring match with Yang, a purely hand-to-hand session. Hand-to-hand isn’t exactly my specialty but I was out of options.

As quickly as I could, I grabbed a hold of her fist and placed my foot on her chest. Using her own bodyweight against her I lift her up into the air and push her over me, launching her out of the arena. Honestly my brain kind of shut off in that moment and I was acting almost without thinking, I had no idea whether it even worked. That is until I heard the buzzer go off and indicate that the match was over.

I slowly open my eyes and look around in a daze before my eyes settle on the board overlooking the arena and under Yang’s name, in bold red letters, it says...ringout. I won...I..really won! I mean it’s not a win by Aura loss but it’s better than nothing! I jump up in excitement only slightly wincing at the pain in my lower back.

“Weiss you did it, that was awesome!” I turn to see a familiar set of pink dog ears and a big grin.

“Y-Yeah thanks Inu.” I smile and probably blush. Which only intensifies when everyone in the class starts surrounding me and cheering me on.

“I never thought anyone would beat the Sun Dragon herself, I mean it was close but still!” Inu is bouncing excitedly. “Super proud of you!”

“Ehem.” The crowd grows silent and parts to reveal a slightly annoyed looking Yang with her hands on her hips.

“Oh uh..Yang sorry, guess we got kinda swept up in the moment.” Inu puts her arms behind her back embarrassed.

Yang just slowly walks up to me with her eyes closed. For a moment I think she might be mad at me but she just lets out a big sigh.

“Geez Weiss, do you know how long of a win streak you just ended and I even used my Semblance, I just didn’t expect you of all people to pull a maneuver like that...oh well I guess it was bound to happen eventually.”

“S-Sorry about your win streak Yang, I just really wanted to win for a change.”

“Don’t apologize for beating me Weiss, just means you were better..this time anyway.”

“Yeah but-” Yang puts her hand on my shoulder and smiles as she gives me a thumbs up.

“Seriously don’t sweat it, it was a great fight, you should be proud.” I can’t help but tear up a little, I resist the urge to hug her then and there.

“I couldn’t have done it without all the help you’ve given me during sparring matches, I learned that last maneuver from you after all.”

“Yeah well, don’t get used to it because next time I’m taking you down!” she makes a defiant fist and flashes a big smirk.

“You’re on Xiao Long.” I reply with a smirk of my own.

The teacher decides to let us go home after sparring class today. Yang and I grab all of our stuff and head out the front doors, waving goodbye to Inu and our other classmates as we do. We stop in the courtyard just outside to stretch.

“So uh what was up with the whole, you know, eye color changing thing you did back there?” I sit down on one of the many stone benches.

“Oh it’s like I said, that’s my semblance, it finally kicked in during a sparring match with my Dad.” she grins. “Pretty cool huh?”

“It’s definitely impressive, you were like a force of nature, you even broke free of my glyph.” I bend back looking up at the sky. “Granted my glyphs are still kinda weak but still.”

“Yeah we aren’t one hundred percent sure how it works yet but it’s pretty freakin cool and I definitely get way stronger so it’s whatever.” Yang finally finishes up her stretches. “So what do ya say that we grab something to eat to celebrate your win, my treat?” 

“I’d love to but I gotta head to the arcade, I promised Ruby I’d meet her there after school.”

“You two are just inseparable, you know that?” she laughs, prompting me to blush a little.

“Yeah well, she was my first friend ever, I guess we just have a..special bond.” I turn away trying not to show how embarrassed I am.

“Well I’m glad you two get along so well but I think it’d do you both some good to spend time with other people for once, you’ll still be besties afterward I promise.” she chuckles. “Anyway I’m gonna go grab a bite, I’ll see you later, tell Ruby I’ll see her at home.”

“Alright, bye Yang.” I wave as she walks away before turning and heading toward the arcade. I think about what Yang said, I mean..she’s not wrong. Ruby and I spend nearly all our free time together. I consider Yang a friend too but other than her...I don’t really have any other friends. Even Inu is more of an acquaintance. Maybe I should start spending more time with other people, I wonder how Ruby would take that..I’m sure she’d understand, I hope.

As I round the corner I see the arcade just down the street. Unfortunately I also see Grey and his goons again. Dammit, do they ever do anything except skulk around waiting to harass me. I try my best to walk past them quickly before they notice me but-

“Oh look it’s our favorite Ice Queen.” Jussuf calls out, I turn to see that they are already approaching me, positioning themselves so they can cut me off on all sides.

“What do you want Grey?” I turn to look at him, knowing full well it would do me no good to talk to his goons.

“We just wanted to share an interesting piece of information with you.” he draws his weapon and the others follow suit. I subtly put my hand on Myrtenaster.

“Did you hear that Dawn and Dusk were both called off to HQ to speak with the Highleader, they’ll be gone for at least a week.” 

“W-Whats your point?” I ask, trying not to sound upset by this revelation. My grip tightening on Myrtenaster.

“My point?” he asks as if it’s the dumbest question he’s ever heard, in a way it was I suppose. “My point is that the one thing that stood between us and teaching you some respect is gone.”

“You do know that if something happens to me while he’s gone he’ll know it was you.”

“True but I have my own plans to take care of that, for now I’m just gonna live in the present.” he snaps his fingers and in moments they are practically on me. I manage to move out of the way at the last moment by launching myself into the air, I come back down on top of Shira and knock him to the ground. Grey fires at me but I manage to dodge out of the way in time and I load some fire Dust into the cylinder, blasting it toward him and knocking the weapon out of his hands.

I get into a charge stance and prepare to launch myself at Grey but just as I do, Jussuf wraps his whip around my weapon and attempts to rip it out of my hand. He only manages to pull me slightly forward but I look toward him and notice a big smirk plastered across his face. Before I can wonder why he presses a button on his whip and a current of electricity surges through his whip, into my weapon and then into me. My muscles all painfully seize up and I collapse.

As the pain subsides and the blur fades from my vision I attempt to quickly get back to my feet only to be greeted by the site of Grey’s pistol pointed directly in my face. Jussuf jumps to my side and quickly rips Myrtenaster from my hand.

That was a dirty trick, I had no clue his whip could produce electricity like that. I shouldn’t have been caught off guard by Jussuf in the first place but I’m still tired from my fight with Yang and I guess I was feeling cocky.

“No matter how much things change, they stay the same don’t they, you’re barely any different from the scared girl we met back then.” Grey says as they surround me. “You’re pathetic.”

“Me pathetic?” I am unable to suppress the chuckle. “You’re so full of anger and hatred that you just can’t help but lash out at anyone, like a petulant child throwing a temper tantrum.”

“I am an arbiter of revolution!” I seem to have struck a nerve. “Brother Adam knows the truth, it doesn’t matter who gets hurt so long as we achieve our goal, especially if that someone who gets hurt is some spoiled human brat.”

“Yeah you just keep telling yourself that, I don’t know anything about this ‘Adam’ but it sounds like you’ve gambled on the wrong horse, Faunus like Dawn are the ones who will bring change.” If I’m honest I AM scared, hard not to be in this situation but I refuse to show it, I won’t give them the satisfaction. “Faunus like you and Adam will be nothing but forgotten.”

It seems that finally he did it and he goes to take a swipe at me with the blade on his six shooter, I wince preparing to take the hit but then I suddenly hear what sounds like a pained yell and I open my eyes to see grey holding his hand with blood dripping down it. I then look behind him to see Ruby holding her scythe with blood on the blade, a look of anger and fear on her face.

“R-Ruby?” What is she thinking, she doesn’t have hardly any proper training, she could really get hurt!? “Ruby you need to run!”

“Boss are you okay?”Jussuf asks.

“Do I look okay you idiot!?” he shouts and shoots an angry glare at Ruby. “You’re gonna pay you little shit!”

“Leave Weiss alone!” Ruby ignores my pleas for her to run and stands firm despite clearly being afraid. She knows full well she can’t take on these three by herself but she refuses to run.

Grey snaps his fingers and signals for Shira to attack. As he does I take advantage of the distraction and take a page out of Yangs book, performing a low sweep kick and tripping Jussuf onto his back. I quickly grab Myrtenaster out of his hand and charge toward Shira. He barely manages to block me in time.

“Jussuf you fool!”

“Sorry boss, I was caught off guard.”

“That’s the problem you moron, you had one job.” Grey points his pistol at Ruby. “You just keep the Ice Queen busy while I pay back this runt for my hand.”

“RUBY!” I don’t think I have ever felt a more potent combination of fear and rage. Grey just smirks as he charges at Ruby. Between Jussuf and Shira I am unable to do anything to help her.

As he approaches her he fires off a few shots, a couple of which Ruby was surprisingly able to block but the third one grazes her cheek. Before she can fully react he is on top of her and planting a kick firmly into her gut, sending her flying into a tree.

Ruby cries out in pain but manages to force herself back to her feet. She is barely able to stand and her Aura is nearly depleted. Ruby please...just run!

“You have some fight in you runt I’ll give you that.” Grey says with a cocky smirk. His eyes giving away the rage hiding behind it.

“I won’t let you hurt Weiss.” she gets back into a fighting stance. Grey looks back at me as I continue to hold off Jussuf and Shira, I mistakenly let him see the fear on my face.

“Looks like hurting the runt is way more effective than hurting you, just as well since I owe her a lot of hurt for my hand.” he walks over toward Ruby. Suddenly he disappears, shocking me and especially Ruby. She looks around for him frantically before he reappears beside her and kicks her in the stomach causing her to fall back to the ground in pain.

The assault distracts me long enough that Shira gets the jump on me and knocks me to the ground with his blade, demolishing what Aura I had left. Jussuf then pins me to the ground so I am unable to get up. I look up to see Grey smirking from ear to ear, wrapping his hand up to stop the bleeding.

“Grey please...you win okay, just let her go, do what you want with me but don’t hurt her anymore.”

“Beg all you want but you aren’t in any position to negotiate.” Shira picks her up by the scruff of her shirt and despite how hurt she must be she fights back by sinking her teeth into his hand, prompting him to shout in pain and drop her.

“Boss, I’m gonna kill her!” he shouts while planting another kick into her gut.

“As fun as that’d be, probably best to avoid that...for now, doesn’t mean we can’t cause plenty of damage though.” Grey leans in and holds his blade to her face, probably intending to cut her but before I can scream out and beg him not to, everything is interrupted by the sound of a loud blast.

I turn my attention toward the source of the sound and just as I do I see Yang, rocketing past me and slamming her fist into Jussuf so hard he is sent flying clear down the street.

“Yang, what are you-?” I start to ask but one look at her face and I know she isn’t in a talking mood. Her eyes are blood red like back in sparring class and her face is contorted into one of pure rage.

She kicks Myrtenaster back to me and I spring to my feet. Pointing my weapon directly at Grey, once I’m brought back into the current situation and see poor Ruby beaten on the ground my anger returns with a vengeance.

“You bastards are going to pay for hurting my little sis!”

“Boss maybe we should-” It sounds like Shira was about to suggest a retreat but before he can finish his sentence Yang delivers a sucker punch to his gut that knocks him back into the tree.

“You should’ve just let me walk on by Grey!” I launch myself at him and our blades collide.

“I couldn’t, don’t you get it, I can’t rest peacefully until you have been made to feel even a semblance of the pain your family has caused to Faunus everywhere!”

“Oh shut up!” I knock him back into the tree alongside Shira and then, I use some ice dust to freeze them in place onto the tree. “First I’m not responsible for the actions of my father, his sins are not mine to bear and second, assaulting a couple of innocent girls on the street isn’t retribution, it's petty spite!”

“You don’t have any-!” he begins to shout but is cut off by me pointing my rapier at his throat.

“Frankly I don’t care what you think, if you ever mess with Ruby or me again, then you won’t be just walking away next time!”

“I second that notion, frankly I really want to pound your faces into tar right now but Ruby needs me.” Yang picks Ruby up in her arms and runs back toward the school, I assume to get her to the infirmary.

“I would unfreeze you but I’m sure you’ll melt free eventually, assuming the Police don’t find you first.” I start chasing after Yang.

“This isn’t over Schnee, count on it!” I hear Grey shout from behind me but I choose to ignore him this time. Ruby is more important.

We eventually make it back to the school and luckily one of the nurses hadn’t left yet. We tell her what happened and I fill in any parts Yang wasn’t present for. She looks over Ruby and determines that it's mostly just cuts and bruises, that she’ll be fine and cleaned up her cuts. Afterward she leaves but tells us we are welcome to stay until Ruby wakes up. We thank her as she is walking out the door.

Yang calls Tai and tells him what happened. He says he’ll be here as fast as he can, so about fifteen minutes, and then Yang sits down across from me on the other side of Ruby.

“Yang I...I’m sorry.” I’ve been holding that back since the Nurse left.

“Sorry for what?” she just looks at me perplexed.

“For letting this happen, Ruby wouldn’t have been hurt if she just wasn’t associated with me.” I look at Ruby’s sleeping face and want to cry.

“Don’t be stupid Weiss.” Yang says, prompting me to now look at her confused. “Weiss...you didn’t LET this happen, you were ganged up on and once they had you subdued Ruby showed up and they turned their attention to her, if you could have I know you would’ve done anything to keep her safe.”

“Yeah but-”

“No buts, this wasn’t your fault, end of story.” she cuts me off and ends the conversation then and there. Despite how blunt she was I’ll admit it did help me feel at least a small bit better. Eventually Ruby starts to groan and sit up, causing me to breathe a sigh of relief. Yang and I both put our arms around her.

“Y-Yang...Weiss?” She seems a bit confused, understandable after being knocked out cold. “Wait what happened to Grey?”

“Don’t worry about it, your Big Sis and Bestie took care of them.” Yang smiles warmly at her, all signs of worry now gone from her face.

“Weiss I...I’m sorry I couldn’t help..” Ruby says looking downcast.

“Ruby...if you hadn’t shown up when you did I don’t know what would have happened.” I say honestly and squeeze her hand. “I honestly wish I had your bravery Ruby, despite how scared you were and the odds against you, you stood your ground...just try not to do that all the time I’m not sure my heart can take it.”

Ruby lets out a small laugh, prompting Yang and I to do the same. We just sit there and talk for a while longer, eventually Tai shows up and of course runs to Ruby and hugs her tight, maybe a little to tight. I guess that's what it’s like to have a father who cares.

The Police showed up shortly after, Tai had called them before he left. Apparently the Police had passed the spot we told them about and they did see piles of Ice lying on the ground near a tree but Grey and his goons were nowhere to be seen. Not exactly great news. They promise to keep an eye out for them and that they will officially be added to their high priority list.

We all head outside and hop into the car to begin the drive home. Yang sits upfront and talks with Tai while Ruby and I sit in the back, making small talk about weekend plans and such. Ruby never ceases to amaze me, she was just beaten not that long ago by a group of thugs, most people her age would likely still be a little shaken up but she seems totally fine. I meant what I said, I wish I had her courage.

As I look at her I feel a subtle beating in my chest and I feel my cheeks get warm. I don’t exactly know how Ruby makes me feel but I know it’s different than I’ve felt with anyone else. I guess I’ll figure it out eventually but for now, I’ll just be happy having her close to me and I won’t ever let anything happen to her again.


	5. New Friendships

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby and Weiss have been best friends for well over a year now and they spend nearly every waking moment together, maybe its time to make some new friends. Will they both be okay with that?

RUBY ROSE

Once I am done showering and getting dressed I quickly run down stairs, grabbing my bag and my scythe on the way out, just in case. Before I head out the front door I make sure to give Dad a kiss on the cheek and give Yang a hug.

“Where ya headed Sis?” Yang asks, taking a break from the game she is playing.

“Oh I’m gonna go see if Weiss wants to go to the arcade.”

“Again?” she leans over the back of the couch.

“What do you mean?” I put my hand on my hip.

“Well...I mean you guys spend every waking moment together, and I’m glad you guys are so close but don’t you think you should have more than one friend?” she asks, trying her best to not make it sound like an insult. Points for effort I guess.

“I mean I guess but..”

“You know what, forget I said anything, it's none of my business go ahead and I’ll see you when you get home.”

“Okay...um I love you Yang, love you too Dad!”

“Love you too!” they both shout back as I run out the door. I hope on my bike and begin pedaling toward Weiss’ house.

I wonder what prompted Yang to say that, I mean yeah Weiss and I spend a lot of time together but...I don’t know, I guess I should just do what she said and forget about it. I pedal faster and after a while I eventually pull up to her house, chaining my bike up to their mailbox.

I run up to the door and ring the doorbell, still trying to push what Yang said out of my head and focus on the fun Weiss and I are going to have. Eventually someone answers the door and instead of Klein I see Weiss...fully dressed up like she is going somewhere.

“Oh uh hey Weiss what’s uh...what’s with the get up?”

“Oh Ruby...um I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Inu invited me to a party and I said yes, I should’ve said something so you didn’t ride all the way over here for nothing.”

“Oh….well that’s great Weiss, don’t worry about me, I’m happy for you.” I put on a fake smile, despite being pretty disappointed.

“If you want I could talk to Inu, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind you coming.”

“No no, it’s fine I really should get some training done today anyway.” I wave my hands in front of me and then rub the back of my head.

“If you’re sure..”

“Oh totally, don’t even worry about it, have fun at the party Weiss I’m just gonna take off.” I head to my bike and wave goodbye, making sure to not let the smile fade from my face until I’m sure she can’t see me anymore.

Why am I so sad? Weiss is making more friends and going to party with her classmates, that’s a good thing. I should be happy for her, instead I’m being a mope about it. I stop halfway back to my house and decide to sit on a rock by a creek, throwing rocks into the water.

It’s not like Weiss isn’t gonna be my friend anymore, it’s just a party. So why am I feeling this way? I know it’s dumb and selfish but..I can’t help it. Weiss is my best friend and I guess...part of me wanted her all to myself...but that part of me is just gonna have to get over it! Weiss isn’t just my friend, she’s her own person and deserves to have more friends than just me!

“Hey there!” a voice from behind me shakes me out of my deep train of thought, making me fall backward into the water. As I get drenched in cold water I hear the same voice start laughing. I slick my bangs back out of my face and I see a boy, roughly my age from the look of it, with black hair and deep red eyes and a dark ensemble to match laughing his head off and pointing at me. “S-Sorry I shouldn’t laugh but you should see yourself.”

“You scared me!” I shout as my face turns red from embarrassment. I cup some water in my hands and do my best to splash him with it. “Stop laughing jerk!”

“A-Alright, cease fire I’m sorry, I just couldn’t help myself.” he says through half hearted laughter that slowly dies down. He walks down to the edge of the creek and kneels over, offering me a hand. I look up at his smiling face, the sunshine hitting it in a way that makes his eyes shine and for some reason I feel heat in my face again before I shake it off and reluctantly take his hand. He pulls me up and then clasps his hands together. “For real I am legit sorry, I wasn’t trying to scare you, even if it did end up being kinda funny.”

“Wh-Whatever, just don’t sneak up on people.” I fold my arms.

“I didn’t exactly sneak up on you, you were just lost in your own little world.” I guess...that is technically true.

“Yeah Yeah I forgive you, just don’t do it again.” I start squeezing the water out of my hair and ringing it out of my clothes. “Who are you anyway?”

“Isn’t it customary to give your own name first?” he asks looking kind of smug.

“Isn’t it customary to not scare people and get them drenched?” I retort shooting him an annoyed look and spraying him with water from my wet sleeve. He just lets out a small laugh in response.

“Fair enough, the name is Alan Pavado.” he points at himself with his thumb. What is with this guy? “You are?”

“Ruby Rose.”

“So what were you all down about Ruby?”

“N-Nothing, what does it matter to you anyway?” I again fold my arms in annoyance.

“I guess it shouldn’t but..you looked kinda down and I thought maybe I’d try to cheer you up...not a great start I know.” he nervously rubs the back of his head.

“That’s putting it mildly...anyway I guess the thought was a nice one...I’m just sad because my friend went to a party today and I was gonna hang with her.”

“I mean I guess that’s kind of a bummer...do you not have anyone else to hang out with?” he asks as I avert my gaze, just kinda looking down at the ground. “Ah...well you do now!”

“W-What?!” I shout as he runs over and puts his arm over my shoulders.

“I’d be more than happy to make a new friend, so what were you planning to do today?” he asks and I am still reeling at how upfront this guy is.

“W-Well I was hoping to go to the arcade but-”

“Say no more, arcade it is!” he shouts and starts pulling me along, grabbing my bike along the way.

“W-Wait I can’t go now, I just got all wet remember?”

“No biggie, you’ll dry off by the time we get there.” this guy...he really is obnoxious but..he also at least seems kinda nice. I guess...I could try having another friend.

Once we get to the arcade we head inside and he insists on paying for our play cards. He’s not that bad I guess...still can’t help but find myself wishing Weiss was here but I’ll just have to make the most out of it.

“Okay so what do you wanna start on?” he asks as he hands me my play card.

“Well..I guess we could play that Grimm hunting game over there.” I point to an arcade machine with fake Grimm on either side of it and fake guns attached to it.

“Oh yeah Grimmpocalypse two, I don’t mean to brag but I’m pretty good at it.” he responds, surprising me that he is even aware of it. Didn’t seem like the type.

“Yeah well so am I, literally never lost.”

“Easy enough when you only ever play with the same person.”

“Oh yeah!?” I shout and march over to the machine. “We’ll see who gets the higher score!”

“You’re on.” he says with a smug look on his face as he swipes his card and grabs the gun. Despite all my bolstering and being so sure that I was going to win, especially since this was the best run I have ever had in this game, I look over to his screen and see that his score is nearly double mine. I collapse to the floor in shame. “Hey now, there’s no shame in losing to the master.”

“I swear I’m gonna beat you at something!” I jump to my feet and grab him by the wrist, determined to wipe that smug look off his face. Game after game he just keeps winning over and over, I have no idea how it’s possible. Anytime I’m not training or studying I am here, how could he destroy me in literally every game. After hours of me losing, we decide it’s time to take off.

“Look you put up a valiant effort.” he says trying to stifle a laugh as we walk out the front door.

“Yeah yeah, whatever.” I say sulking the entire way. “I swear I’m gonna beat you next time.”

“Next time?” he raises an eyebrow.

“Well obviously, I can’t let this embarrassment go unchecked!” I shout and make a fist. Prompting him to laugh, at first that only annoys me but seeing him smile so genuinely and laugh so hard I can’t help but crack a smile and even laugh a little myself.

“Ruby?” I turn toward the sound of a familiar voice and to my surprise I see Weiss and Inu standing there.

“W-Weiss, what are you doing here?” I nearly run and hug her but decide against it.

“Oh well, the party ended kind of early and I thought I’d go and see if you were still here, Inu insisted on coming along.” she looks past me and right at Alan. “Who is your..friend?”

“Please he wishes, this guy is Alan, I only hung out with him because he seemed lonely.”

“Oh right, hate to break it to you but I’m pretty sure you were the one sulking by the creek.” he says through a chuckle, causing heat to rise to my cheeks.

“You were sulking?” Weiss asks but instead of answering her I change the subject.

“SO UH HOW ABOUT WE ALL GET SOMETHING TO EAT!” I shout a little louder than I meant to and I try to calm myself down. “I mean it’d be a shame if you came out here for nothing.”

“I could eat.” Alan replies.

“Who invited you?” I turn and shoot him an annoyed look.

“Aw come on, the more the merrier right, besides he’s kinda cute.” Inu claps her hands together and smiles.

“Yeah listen to the lady Ruby, she speaks sense.” he smirks.

“Please don’t encourage him Inu, he has a big enough head as it is, but I suppose he can come.”

After some brief debate we decide to go to the closest place, a small burger place a block away from the arcade. We all sit down and take our seats after ordering, making small talk as we wait for our food.

“So Alan, are you new around here?” Inu asks, twirling her hair, pretty obvious signals if even I can spot them. Alan doesn’t seem to notice at all, talk about dense.

“More or less, I moved here a couple months back but I never leave my Uncle's place.” he leans back in his chair.

“I only moved here myself a couple years ago.” Weiss says trying to be friendly but she doesn’t seem to fully trust him yet. Can’t say I blame her entirely, she’ll see eventually he’s just a dork though. “How do you like it?”

“It’s alright, pretty quite most of the time but at least that means there isn’t much to stress about.”

“It can be pretty boring sometimes though” Inu takes a sip of her drink as an employee places our food on the table.

“I guess but...I’ll take boring over where I was before..”

“W-..What do you me-?” I start to ask but he cuts me off by leaning forward and ripping the paper off his burger.

“Man I’m starved!” he starts shoving it in his mouth. I mean I am all about enthusiastic eating but that's a bit much, also I wonder what he meant by what he said before. Guess it’s not my place to ask that.

“Soooo uh Ruby, you feel ready to take your admissions test next week?” Weiss asks as she starts eating her food all proper.

“Don’t remind me..I’m excited but I also feel like I wanna barf just thinking about it.”

“Admissions test for what?” Alan asks through a mouth full of food. Somehow this STILL hasn’t deterred Inu.

“First, swallow your food and second, I am taking the admissions test to get into Signal.”

“Oh cool, so am I!” he shouts after gulping down his food with the help of his soda, prompting me to almost spit mine out.

“Y-You are going to S-Signal?” I ask through coughs.

“Yeah, what about it?”

“N-Nothing I guess, I just didn’t picture you as a fighter.”

“You have no idea.” he says through a cocky, yet kinda sad chuckle.

“Well one thing is for sure, you’ll be one of the most popular guys in school on day one.” Inu takes the last bite of her food.

“Thanks, not really my priority but still nice of you to say I guess.” he stands up, grabbing his trash and dumping it in the bin and putting a piece of paper down in front of me before heading for the door. “Well I’ll see ya guys later, it was nice meeting you Weiss and Inu.”

“It was my pleasure, believe me!” Inu shouts and waves bye at him.

“Have a nice evening.” Weiss says and waves goodbye. I pick up the piece of paper and see that his Scroll number was written on it.

“Oh you have to share the love Ruby, please!” Inu begs when she realizes what it is.

“Inu, if you want his number you should ask yourself, don’t put Ruby on the spot like that.” Weiss chimes in.

“You’re no fun Weiss.” Inu lays her head on the table and pouts.

“So um Ruby, how exactly did you meet him again?”

“OH UH…” I decide to stretch the truth and avoid mentioning that I was feeling down. “I was just hanging out by the creek and he came along out of nowhere wanting someone to chill at the arcade with, so we hung out for a while it’s no big deal.”

“I see.” I can’t tell if she buys it or not but she doesn’t press further. “Do you...like him?”

“Why do you ask?” I raise my eyebrow and she blushes slightly.

“N-No reason I was just curious, if you wanted to be friends with him that is.” she waves her right hand in front of her face.

“I mean he’s okay I guess, I’m not opposed to the idea, just wish he wasn’t so cocky all the time.”

“Seems like Alan wasn’t the only dense one here tonight.” Inu says grabbing her bag and standing up.

“Wait what does tha-?” Weiss starts to ask before Inu cuts her off by saying goodnight to us both and walking out.

We end up sitting there for a few more minutes and talk about Alan, which wasn’t my preferred choice of conversation but Weiss had a lot of questions about him, I wonder if she likes him. Gods I hope not.

After a while we decide it’s getting late and head out, rather than going our separate ways we decide to use Weiss’ Scroll to call my Dad and her Grandpa to see if it’s cool that she stays at our place tonight. I don’t have a Scroll yet but dad promised to get me one soon. They both said it was okay and Dad in particular told us to hurry home, he seemed kind of annoyed with how late it was.

I hope on my bike and prompt Weiss to sit on the pillion behind me. She does and after she puts her arms around my waist I pedal as fast as I can back home, eventually the light of the town begins to fade as we head deeper into the more forested areas near my house. Our only source of light being the flashlight on Weiss’ Scroll and the moonlight overhead.

About halfway I notice that Weiss is shivering slightly, she is still dressed for a party after all. I unhook my hood and pass it back to her which she refuses at first but after I insist she drapes it over herself and her shivering stops.

Eventually we reach my house and hop off the bike which I chain up inside the shed where Yang keeps the Motorcycle she has been working on. It’s still pretty beat up but she swears she is going to get it running soon. Afterward we head inside and receive a scolding from Dad for staying out so late. He offers us some food but we refuse since we already ate, thanking him anyway, we head upstairs to my room.

“I didn’t expect your Father to be that upset.” Weiss plops down on my bed while I get out the sleeping bag I use when she sleeps over. She used to insist that she use the sleeping bag until she realized that she was never going to win that argument.

“Yeah, he just worries a lot, especially since we have had more than a few run-ins with dangerous people.”

“Yeah it’s understandable, I just wasn’t ready for it, he can be pretty scary when he’s mad.”

“Yeah but don’t let him fool you, he’s a big teddy bear.” I say, prompting a small giggle from both of us. I grab some of my PJs from my dresser and toss them to Weiss. “You can borrow those, we are pretty close in size, besides I doubt you wanna wear your party clothes to bed.”

“Thanks Ruby.” she grabs them and walks into my bathroom emerging several minutes later wearing my PJs. I think she looks pretty good in red and black but then again I’m biased. She then plops down on the bed, getting all cozy in the covers while I turn the light off.

“Hey Weiss...you awake?” I ask after we both lie in silence for a bit.

“Of course I am, you are tossing and turning over there.”

“We...We’re still besties right?”

“Don’t be dumb Ruby, of course we are you dolt, no matter how many more friends we make we will always be best friends.” she replies, making me feel relief and a bit of shame for even feeling the need to ask.

“S-Sorry I know it’s silly, I guess I just worry sometimes that you’ll find a better friend than me, someone cooler or smarter and then you won’t need me.”

“That’s ridiculous Ruby..you are the best friend I could ever ask for, no one could replace you.”

“Thanks Weiss I..I needed to hear that, you are the best friend I could ever ask for too.”

“That’s sweet Ruby, now could you please go to sleep.” she says in a fake annoyed tone.

“Y-Yeah sorry, goodnight Weiss.” I say, rolling over and curling up in the sleeping bag.

“Goodnight Ruby.”


	6. Moving Forward and Looking Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby visits her Mother's grave and reminisces on what memories she has of her. At the same time she learns of whether or not she is accepted into Signal and Weiss helps her test just how far she has really come.

RUBY ROSE

I run up to the clearing by Moms grave, looks like I beat Uncle Qrow here despite him asking me to meet him, this is Uncle Qrow though so I guess I should expect that. I take the opportunity to walk over to Mom's grave and sit down in front of it, placing my Crescent Rose prototype down next to me. I notice that the weeds are starting to grow a bit too much around it, I really should come here more often.

“Hey Mom, sorry that it's been a little while since we last talked, things have just been kinda crazy lately.” I sit in silence for a bit, as if letting her respond. “I took the placement test for Signal the other day, used a prototype for the weapon Uncle Qrow helped me design, just waiting on the letter to come in.”

I just smile and reach out, placing a hand on her gravestone. Running my hand over the Rose insignia carved into it before placing a hand on the silver insignia on my belt. I remember insisting to Dad that I needed one that matched Moms.

“I really wish you were here Mom, don’t get me wrong Uncle Qrow, Yang, Dad, and Weiss are all great and they have all been a big help to me but...I just wish I could ask you what you thought sometimes and...if you’re proud of me.” I lightly clutch my own insignia.

“She is kiddo.” I turn to see Uncle Qrow standing just behind me. No idea how he got so close without me noticing, I must have been out of it.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that Uncle Qrow.”

“Sorry, I didn’t realize that’s what I was doing.” he chuckles.

“Yeah, I get that a lot.” I turn back around and look at her grave, giving a little smile. “You...you really think so?”

“Think what kiddo?”

“That...That Mom would be proud?”

“Oh yeah for sure, I’m not sure where we go after we die but..wherever that is I’m sure she is proud as hell of her little RoseBud.” he says using the nickname Mom apparently had for me, I was too little to remember.

“I hope you’re right..even if she isn’t though I’ll make sure that she will be.” I smile at her grave one last time before standing and facing Uncle Qrow. “So what is it you wanted to see me about?”

He just hands me an envelope. I look at it and without even reading who it was from I know this is my letter from Signal. The letter where they finally tell me whether or not I’m good enough to begin my first step to becoming a Huntress. I walk over to the cliffside behind her grave and sit down with my legs hanging over the side. I sit there staring at the envelope for what feels like ages, it almost feels like I’m holding a bomb in my hands.

“You gonna open it or what?” Uncle Qrow sits down next to me.

I shoot him an anxious look before taking a big breath and ripping it open. At first I’m terrified to open my eyes and read the letter, I want this with everything in me..but eventually I peel them open and I look down at the paper in my hand and I can barely believe it...I got accepted to Signal! Not only that but I am in the advanced course, years of practice and training, finally paying off!

“I got in!” Uncle Qrow doesn’t seem the least bit surprised when I throw my arms around him in joy. He just lets out a soft laugh and pats me on the back.

“You earned it kiddo, you’re ready.” Uncle Qrow smiles, looking off into the horizon as our feet dangle over the edge of the cliff.

“I am sort of still at the part where I am having trouble accepting it’s real, I mean I have been working toward this for years.”

“Well accept it, you worked your butt off to get here and there is plenty of work ahead with a lot you still have to learn but for now just appreciate the moment.” he puts his hand on my shoulder.

“I couldn’t have done it without you Uncle Qrow, not only did you train me but you’re the one who convinced Dad to let me try.” I smile at him before looking off into the distance myself.

“Yeah..he was pretty against it after...well after your Mom but I knew that with or without his blessing you’d find a way to fight so best to at least give you the right tools”

“Regardless I still owe you a lot Uncle Qrow.”

“You don’t owe me squat kiddo, I was happy to teach my favorite niece.”

We smile at each other with the sun setting in the distance. He can say that but I know it wasn’t easy for him, sticking in one place for as long as he did, teaching at Signal just so he could stay close by and teach me. Without him I would have never been trained, I would have never been accepted to Signal and I would have never met Weiss that day. I doubt I’ll ever be able to fully repay him but the least I can do is live up to his expectations.

“I won’t let you down Uncle Qrow, I’ll take what you taught me and become the greatest Huntress in history.”

“That's a pretty big goal kiddo, it's not gonna be easy and you’ll likely struggle the entire way but if anyone were to do it than I don’t doubt it’d be you, I’ve never seen anyone with the drive to help people that you have or the stubbornness to keep going no matter how many times you fall.” he lays back and puts his hands behind his head. “Except maybe your Mom, you remind me so much of her it’s crazy.”

I also lay back with my hands behind my head, watching the clouds roll bye. Dad says that a lot too, that I remind him of Mom. I guess I’ll just have to take their word for it, I was so little I don’t remember much about her. I remember how she’d make cookies for Yang and I when we were upset and that she would be gone for little stretches of time. Likely on missions and I remember...I remember her just not coming back. I was too little to really get it but as time went on it really sunk in...

I..I also remember thinking she was the coolest Mom ever and I remember that her smile was always the brightest thing in a room. When I was sad or hurt she would hold me, give me a cookie and sing to me. It always made me feel so warm and safe..

The more I think about her the more relaxed I become and I slowly begin to drift off to sleep, right as I am about to finally close my eyes I hear the beeping of my Scroll, it’s still pretty new so it actually almost startled me initially. I pull it out and see I have a message from Alan. I open it and it’s a picture of him holding up his acceptance letter with a big grin on his face. That’s good to know and it looks like he was put in the advanced class too, didn’t realize he was that good.

‘Wanted you to be the first to know.’ it says below the picture. Not sure what his fascination with me is but I have more or less warmed up to him. He can be a bit much, even for me, but he’s a pretty good guy. Suddenly it gets dark, the setting sun being blocked by someone standing in front of me. I look up to see

“Weiss!” I shout excitedly, jumping up and hugging her, nearly pulling her down in the process.

“C-Careful you dolt.” she says suppressing a chuckle.

“S-Sorry, what are you doing here anyway?” I pull away laughing nervously.

“We are supposed to spar together remember?” she puts her hand on her rapier.

“Oh yeah I nearly forgot” I bump myself on the head “but why didn’t you just wait for me near the gym or message me on my Scroll?”

“Well you told me that you’d be here so I figured I’d just come get you, no big deal.”

“Well I have some great news!” I half shout, bouncing in place.

“What is it Ruby, you look like you’re about to burst?” Weiss gives a nervous smile.

“I got accepted!” I hold up my acceptance letter.

“W-Wow that's great Ruby, congratulations!” Weiss’ half smile is replaced by a bright full one.

“Yeah and I’m even more excited to spar now, wanna see just how ready I am by taking on one of Signal’s Top 5!” I smirk and grab Crescent Rose off the ground.

“Yeah well just don’t be disappointed when I decimate you.” she giggles and smirks, walking back towards the gym.

“Don’t underestimate me Schnee!” I start to run to her but then I see Uncle Qrow lying on the ground. “Oh uh Uncle Qrow, do you mind if I take off now?”

“Don’t mind me kiddo, I’m just gonna relax here a bit longer.” he says giving me a thumbs up.

“Thanks Uncle Qrow.” I lean down and kiss him on the cheek before running over and grabbing Weiss’ hand. “Let’s go!”

“Okay I’m coming Ruby, you don’t have to pull so hard!” she shouts as I drag her back into the woods.

“Remind me why we are going through the woods rather than sticking to the trail?” Weiss asks after we have been walking for about fifteen minutes.

“Seems a bit late to be asking that, besides it’s faster if we cut through this part of the woods.”

“If you say so.”

We walk for at least twenty minutes before we reach a small clearing and I feel a sudden tug on my arm. I turn to see Weiss looking around curiously almost as if she is trying to identify someone she hasn’t seen in a long time. Eventually she walks over to a large tall tree and lays her hand on it.

“Do you realize where we are Ruby?”

“Um..” I look around and within seconds I am suddenly flooded with memories of that night years ago. “This is the spot where we fought that Beowulf, the night we met!”

“That’s right, it’s been so long but even still...I’ll never forget what happened here on this spot.” she smiles. “It’s a bit strange huh?”

“What do you mean?” I give her a confused look.

“Most people would look back on an event like that and be filled with sadness, but I look back at that night and sure it was scary but...I can’t help but smile.”

“I mean I guess but in that case, I guess we’re both weirdos because I’m the same way.” a smile spreads across my face and I jump behind her, wrapping her in a big hug. “No matter how scary it was, it was also the night I met my favorite person ever!

“R-Ruby!” she wriggles slightly but I don’t let her go and she eventually gives up. “You are such a dolt sometimes, you know that?”

“You love it though.” I laugh a little and she does the same.

“Yeah...I’d honestly relive every bit of that fear and dread a thousand times over if it meant that I got to be close to you.” I can swear I see a bit of a blush on her face, I’m sure I have one on my face too but before I can question it she finally wriggles herself free. “Anyway we need to get going if we are going to get in a good sparring before the gym closes.”

“Screw the gym.” I say pulling out my Crescent Rose prototype.

“Oh so you wanna go right here?” she pulls out Myrtenaster.

“You know it princess!” I get into a battle ready position and she follows suit.

“Any limitations?”

“Give me all you got Weiss, this is my true test to myself that I’m really ready!”

“Have it your way.”

We just stare each other down, a big smirk across both of our faces. Eventually I quickly point Crescent Rose behind me and fire. Launching myself at Weiss at top speeds, a trick I picked up by watching Yang. She clearly didn’t expect that but she hardly seems phazed as she creates a wall of Ice, blocking me off. She is getting better at that. Won’t stop me though, I point Crescent Rose downward, jump and fire, launching myself into the air.

“Predictable Ruby!” I look down and see that Weiss is currently aiming several small ice crystals directly at me. She launches them at me and I am forced to act quickly, in midair I point and aim Crescent Rose and manage to shoot each of the crystals out of the air, shattering them to pieces and without skipping a beat I fired a round behind me. Launching myself at Weiss, she manages to block my blade, the clash of metal ringing out for quite a distance I’m sure. 

“Not bad Ruby, you have come a long way.” she says as she strains, pressing her blade against mine.

“You haven’t seen anything yet.” I fire off another round, this time I use the momentum to swing around Weiss and plant a kick to her back, sending her flying into the wall of ice she made. She turns to face me, at first she looks annoyed but that look is soon replaced by a smug one.

“Neither have you.” she loads up a dust cylinder in Myrtenaster and I quickly launch myself away from her. Turns out I wasn’t her target at all though, she sends a wave of fire into her own Ice Wall, engulfing the area in a veil of mist. My line of sight is reduced to basically just barely an inch in front of my face.

Suddenly I feel a hard strike in my side, undoubtedly chipping away at my aura. Then another and another, she is taking advantage of my limited visibility to keep taking pot shots and then moving away before I can hit her back.

Smart, but she shouldn’t underestimate me. I start spinning Crescent Rose around as fast as I can, effectively creating a huge fan and blowing away the mist. My eyes dart in every direction as I try to figure out where she is but I can’t find her, even when the mist is completely dispersed.

“Clever Ruby.” I hear her voice coming from directly above me and I look up to see her suspended by an anti-gravity glyph, before I can react she launches herself toward me and knocks me onto my back. Her foot planted firmly on my chest and her sword pointed at my face. “Not clever enough I’m afraid.”

“Dang...looks like you beat me Weiss.” I say with a half smile. “Should’ve expected that I guess.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself.” she puts her weapon away and offers me a hand. I take it and she pulls me up. “You did really well, the Ruby from even just a year ago could never have pulled off some of those maneuvers, you’ve grown a lot.”

“Thanks Weiss.” I put Crescent Rose into neutral mode, unable to hide the slight look of disappointment I am sure is all over my face. “I guess I just started to let myself believe I could beat you.”

“You will, one day anyway.” she cups her hands around mine. “You just gotta stick to your training, keep working on improving your weapon and keep trying to unlock your semblance, someday you’ll pass me up for sure.”

“Weiss I-” her words of encouragement really start to touch my heart and I can feel tears welling up.

“Don’t think I’m gonna make it easy on you though, I’m gonna be there to make sure you reach your goal even if I have to knock you down a peg now and then.” she says with a warm smile and I feel a stray tear go down my cheek. I wipe it away and offer a smile of my own.

“You’re the best Weiss.”

I go to hug her but just as I do we are both cut off by the sound of low growling. We pull out our weapons and turn toward the sound only to be greeted by a couple of Beowolves creeping out of the tree line. 

“Deja vu huh?” I turn to look at Weiss who is smirking the same as me.

“Yeah, too bad for these guys we aren't the same scared kids from before.” She loads a dust cylinder as I replace Crescent Rose’s clip, loading a round into the chamber.

Before we can do anything though, both of the Beowolves stop dead in their tracks and start whimpering. This greatly confuses the both of us but not as much as when they just completely turn tail and run the other direction.

“Did they...did they just run?” I ask, completely baffled.

“Yeah…” Weiss says, just as stunned as I am.

“Uncle Qrow says that Grimm never run.” I should probably put Crescent Rose away but a part of me doesn’t want to. “What could possibly make them do that?”

Before Weiss can answer my scroll starts ringing. I pull it out to see that it’s Alan calling me, I quickly answer.

“H-Hey Alan, what’s up?” I ask.

“Nothing much, just wanted to see if you and Weiss wanted to hang at the arcade after your sparring match, you know to celebrate our acceptance.” he says. “You okay?”

“Yeah Weiss and I just had something...very weird happen but it’s nothing serious, we’ll tell you about it later, see you at the arcade I guess.” I say goodbye and hang up.

“That was odd timing.” Weiss says.

“Yeah I guess.” I put my scroll and Crescent Rose away. “Let’s just try to forget about what happened and hit up the arcade.”

“Yeah...Yeah sounds good.”


	7. Patch Under Siege Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weiss begins to really awake to her true feelings on the same day that Ruby and Weiss are going to face their first real test. The events of today will change them for the rest of their lives, one way or the other.

WEISS SCHNEE

I am awoken by the sound of my scrolls alarm blaring in my ears. I really should pick a less aggravating alarm, I reach over and shut it off as I climb out of bed. When I really get a good look at the time I realize I need to hurry and get ready before Ruby and the others get here. We all agreed we would go to the fair since it’s the last day and since school starts back up after the weekend is over. I take as quick a shower as possible and start going through my closet to pick an outfit.

While I’m doing that I look over at my TV and see the news is reporting on Atlas and Mystral. Supposedly Atlas is establishing a much larger military presence in Mystral, opening dozens of more military bases and even some robotics factories. I wonder what is up with Atlas and why Mystral seems so fine with it. I can’t explain why but it just makes me uneasy.

I am jolted out of my deep thought by the doorbell ringing and a minute later I hear Klein calling for me and telling me that Ruby along with some other friends are here to see me. I yell that I’ll be down in a minute and take one last look in the mirror before rushing down the stairs.

As soon as I get to the bottom I am suddenly attacked by a wild Ruby who nearly knocks me off my feet. She hugs me super tight as usual and I hug her back after making sure that I’m not going to fall over. After a moment I gently push her off me and look over at the others. Inu is avoiding Snowflake as usual while Yang snuggles her and Alan is being nosy and examining everything as he is one to do.

“You ready to go princess?” Alan asks, using the nickname he has taken to calling me, much to my dismay.

“Yes and I really wish you wouldn’t call me that.” I give him an annoyed look while I grab my bag.

“Alan just really likes to be a pest Weiss, you know this.” Yang gently puts snowflake down as we all head for the door.

“Doesn’t make it any easier to deal with.” I open the door and shout to Klein that we are heading out, he just responds by telling me to be careful. I can tell by the tone of his voice he is legitimately worried, not that I blame him but he’s trying not to let it show. 

After all for some reason White Fang activity has been on the upswing on Patch, Dawn and Dusk warned us about something ominous rumors they had been hearing shortly before disappearing off the face of Remnant and it has been awhile since we have even seen Grey and his goons. Which on one hand I am happy about but on the other it worries me. 

I hope it at least assures him a little that I will be with so many friends, all of whom know how to fight and that we are all bringing our weapons just in case.

“So the day plan is to go grab a bite and then head straight for the fair?” Inu asks, making sure everyone is on the same page.

“Yep, one last chance for us to all go out and have fun before school starts back up.” Ruby stretches and yawns.

“Ruby did you stay up all night gaming again?” as if I had to ask.

“She and Alan both did, she refused to go to bed until she beat him, we ended up having to pull her off the game.” Yang laughs and Alan just gives a cocky smirk.

“Yang you didn’t have to tell her my shame!” Ruby blushes and pouts. She then points at Alan. “Besides he must have been cheating!”

“I know my skills are so good that they might look like hacks but I would never resort to such measures.”

“Oh shut up.” Ruby says turning away from him.

I really don’t get why Ruby lets him goad her on so much, then again Ruby has always been pretty competitive. She is always trying to be the best she can be so..maybe someone like Alan who is cocky and self assured brings out that competitiveness in her. Sometimes I wonder if-

“So Weiss did you have any meal preference?” Ruby’s voice shakes me from my thoughts.

“Oh uh...not really I figured I would just leave that to you guys.”

“Well I vote for A Simple Wok, they just opened one not too far from the fairgrounds!” Inu shouts out excitedly.

“Sounds good to me, I love that place, I haven’t eaten there since I was moved here.” Alan speaks up causing Inu to laugh nervously. It could've just been a slip of the tongue but it almost sounded like he said he was MOVED here which is an odd way of putting it.

“Oh really, I had no idea.” she obviously lies.

“Yeah I guess that sounds good.” Yang adds.

“No arguments from me, what about you Weiss?” Ruby asks, walking backwards in front of me.

“Yeah that sounds fine, just hope they have some low salt options.” I say, cringing at the thought of eating a bowl of salt and noodles.

Eventually we finally made it into town. We are all remaining upbeat despite being clearly on our toes. Little glances to the left and right, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious, especially Grey and his goons.

It doesn’t take us long to find the place. It’s literally just a streetside noodle place, very traditional style. We all grab a seat and place our orders, much to my disappointment I don’t think the guy running the place has ever heard the phrase low salt.

We all just sit and chat while we wait for our food. I was listening to Ruby tell me about some new game that is coming out and how excited she is for us to play it. I just sit and listen to her, nodding and smiling now and then even if I can’t help but be a little on edge. I can’t fully explain it but I just have a bad feeling.

"Weiss are you okay?" Ruby asks, startling me a bit.

"Y-Yeah I'm totally fine." I lie to her. "Anyway what were you saying, sorry I just got distracted?"

"Okay..." she hesitates at first but returns to what she was originally talking about. “I was saying that the new Grimm Fighter is going to be out next week and the arcade in town is getting it day one before the home version releases, I was hoping that maybe we could go check it out!”

“That sounds really fun, we definitely will.” I smile which earns a big grin from her.

“Hey what about me?!” Alan shouts from a few seats down.

“Cheaters aren’t invited!” Ruby shouts back.

“You wound me, I am an honorable opponent madam!”

They go back and forth like that for a while. It’s pretty amusing to watch them go at it like that but..also kind of sad for some reason. I don’t know why, there is no reason for it to make me sad but for reasons I can’t explain it just does. Only a little though.

Finally the time comes and we pay the tab so we can head for the fair. The setting sun makes it kind of hard to miss with all the bright lights coming from the various rides and booths. 

There is something just so captivating about the wonderful smells, the bright colors and shining smiles that makes the fair an experience unlike anything the much more prim and proper Atlas ever offered. Everyone here always seems so genuinely happy. Without a care in the entire world.

It doesn’t take long for me to spot my favorite ride, a massive ferris wheel that overlooks the sea line. Ruby and I ride it every year since we met and since I am gonna graduate this year this may be the last chance we get to ride it for a while. I go to tap Ruby on the shoulder to get her attention.

“Hey Ruby do you want to-?” I start to ask before I realize she is no longer standing next to me. I look over and see her and Alan, with Yang and Inu behind them and cheering, playing a shooting game in a nearby booth. I slowly retract my hand and feel that same slight twinge of sadness I felt before. This time though I quickly bury it and walk over to watch them play.

“Come on Ruby, show’em who's boss!”

Ruby is actually winning, only by a little though. I look over at Alan and for some reason I feel like he is holding back. Why would he do that though? Especially with how competitive he and Ruby usually are, it doesn’t make any sense...unless-

“Yeah I won!” Ruby jumps up and down in excitement. “In your face Alan!”

“Yeah Yeah you win, don’t let it go to your head pipsqueak!” Alan laughs and pats Ruby on the head which she swats away, making him laugh even harder and she laughs right along with him. That feeling is back, I can’t describe it but it almost feels like I’m being punched in the stomach.

“H-Hey Ruby!” I suddenly speak up and grab her hand, everyone looks at me surprised. As they probably should, I don’t know what came over me.

“Yeah Weiss?” Ruby asks, looking initially as confused as the others but it's quickly replaced by her signature Ruby smile.

“I was...I was just wondering if you wanted to ride the ferris wheel...” I am pretty embarrassed, more than I should be, I am actually pretty sure my face is as red as Ruby’s cloak by now.

“Oh uh, sure no problem Weiss.” she says and I try my best to calm down a little. I’m not sure why I’m so worked up.

The others all decided they wanted to go check out some of the more new rides first so Ruby and I make our way over to the ferris wheel alone. Why...why is the idea of riding the ferris wheel alone with Ruby making me feel so weird, it shouldn’t. We’ve done it before and besides we are just a couple of friends going on a fair ride. What is wrong with me!?

As we both board the ferris wheel I feel myself getting more and more tense. Ruby is just being her usual carefree and cheerful self which is somehow only making it worse. I feel the car we are in rising up into the sky. In an attempt to calm down I look out the window, taking in the beautiful sight of the night sky accented by the lights of the fairground and the town beyond it.

“Hey Ruby..” I say trying to get her attention. Hoping that I have finally calmed down enough to hold a conversation but as soon as I turn I see her. She is looking at me with that big bright smile of hers that usually makes me feel so warm inside. Her pale skin and red tinted black hair bathed in the light of the broken moon behind her. Suddenly that feeling from before is gone but this time it’s replaced by an entirely different one. Its almost like being awestruck but...it’s more than that. I just wish I could explain it. Without thinking I opened my mouth and the only words I could muster were “...you're beautiful.”

“Huh?” I am snapped back to reality by the sound of Ruby’s voice. Only realizing as I see her shocked expression, with cheeks tinted a slight shade of pink, what I just said to her out loud.  
I immediately turn away from her and try to hide my face in embarrassment, why did I just say that!? I mean I was thinking it but I didn’t think it would actually come out of my mouth. “Weiss?”

After some brief hesitation I slowly turn to look at her and instead of looking surprised now she just looks concerned. “You’ve been acting..kind of weird tonight, is everything okay?”

“What do you mean?” She is either ignoring what I said before or she didn’t hear me, either way I’ll take it.

“Well every so often I see you making a sad expression and then just now back at the shooting game…” I guess she really did notice that I haven’t been myself tonight. Then again I shouldn’t be surprised, thats...well that’s just Ruby.

“I don’t know, I guess...I guess I just get a little jealous when I see you and Alan getting along so well, I know it’s silly but I can’t help it.” I avert my gaze, slightly ashamed of myself.

“I mean yeah that is silly but I get it.” she says. “I went through something similar..back when you started making friends I got super jealous even if I was trying to play it like it didn’t bother me...but I have realized I don’t have to worry and you don’t have to worry either Weiss you are still my bestie, sure it’s nice having more friends and Alan is great but you and I...what we have is more special than that.”

As the fireworks from the fair go off behind us I reach across and wrap my arms around her, probably a little tighter than I should but I can’t help it. She returns the hug and whispers something so quiet that I just barely catch it. “For the record, I think you’re beautiful too.

I quickly pull away from the hug and look at her both a little shocked and embarrassed. Not only did she hear me but...she thinks I’m beautiful. I can feel the heat rising to my cheeks. Ruby’s cheeks look just as red as I imagine mine are. We sit there just staring at each other as we are both bathed in the moonlight and the light from the fireworks show.

Suddenly I start to lean in, despite my mind screaming at me not to. ‘Ruby is just your friend!’ and ‘This could ruin everything!’ is rushing through my mind but for some reason I just can’t stop myself. Just as our faces are barely an inch apart from each other we are cut off by the sound of my scroll ringing snapping me back to reality.

Even more embarrassed than before I quickly grab my scroll out of my bag and see that it’s Dawn. Why is he calling now after we haven’t heard from him in weeks and right now of all times. I quickly answer.

“Hello?”

“Weiss where are you and Ruby right now!?” he shouts sounding rather panicked.

“Why do you want to know, what's wrong?” I ask feeling a sinking feeling in my chest.

“Just tell me!”

“The fair, we are at the fair!” I shout, I look over at Ruby who is looking both confused and very concerned.

“Dammit, you need to get out of there now!”

“Dawn what is going on!?”

Before he can answer Ruby and I both hear a loud explosion beneath us. Causing a small shockwave that shakes the ferris wheel very slightly.

“What in the heck was that?!” Ruby shouts as we both look over the side and see a big fireball in the center of the fairgrounds. Before we can even wonder what caused it, several more explosions go off. My heart sinks in my chest and based on the look on Ruby’s face she feels the same. This isn’t an accident, this is an attack.

“Weiss, Weiss are you there!?” I hear Dawn shouting through my scroll.

“Y-Yeah I’m here, what is going on?!” I raise the scroll to my ear and shout in a panic.

“Grey and his goons are finally making their move, I’m not sure how but he has managed to gather plenty of Fang soldiers to back him up, I don’t know what there game is but they are attacking the fairgrounds.”

“What are we supposed to do, the attack has already started?”

“Just hold on, Dusk and I are on our way with whatever loyal Fang soldiers I could find and we are gonna put a muzzle on him for good, stay safe until then!” he hangs up.

Within minutes we see White Fang members pulling up in at least a dozen large fans, pouring out and rushing the fairgrounds. Even worse than that, a few large trucks also pull up and when they open up the back, dozens of Beowolves and Ursa come pouring out as well. For some reason they completely ignore the White Fang and just start running into the fairgrounds, attacking innocent people.

“Weiss we need to get down there!” Ruby shouts.

“Yeah I know but how?” I barely have time to finish the question when Ruby uses Crescent Rose to shoot out the window to the car. She puts up a foot and prepares to jump. She gives me a determined look and I return with a knowing look of my own, guess we had to practice landing strategies eventually.

She jumps out first, spinning around her weapon so she is standing on the blade and begins firing off rounds. Almost like she is pogo jumping down, I can’t help but give a proud smile. She has come such a long way in a short amount of time, I shake myself back to reality though as I remind myself that there are more pressing matters to deal with.

I jump out myself, creating several solid glyphs leading from the car to the ground which takes a lot of concentration but I manage to pull it off. I quickly leap from glyph to glyph before I lose them. Eventually I find myself on the ground right next to Ruby.

We look around at the chaos. Fair attractions burning, people running in fear, White Fang members firing at anyone they see and of course Grimm destroying everything in sight. We share one final look before we launch into battle.

I dodge out of the way of a flurry of bullets being fired by a White Fang soldier, blasting him away with a blast of fire dust. I hear the sound of Beowulf sneaking up behind me and I quickly turn, thrusting Myrtenaster through its chest, causing it to evaporate into dust.

I look over toward Ruby who has planted Crescent Rose into the ground and is blasting away, taking out several Beowolfs in quick succession. Amazing to think barely a couple of years ago we both struggled to kill just one of those. Another White Fang soldier attempts to take a swipe at me with a sword but he just barely grazes me before I create a pillar of ice underneath him and send him flying.

I turn back to see that an Ursa is about to get the jump on Ruby because she’s too focused on the large group of Beowolves infront of her. I am about to call out to her but before I even get the chance, I see Yang jump onto its back and wrap her arms around its neck.

“Hey you oversized teddy bear, that’s my baby sister you're messing with!” she shouts as she pulls back, causing the Ursa to lose it’s footing and fall backward. Before it can get back onto its feet she puts her foot onto its chest and smirks before blasting it in the face with her gauntlets. ‘I still have no idea how I managed to beat her in a fight’ I think with a nervous smile.

Seconds later Inu and Alan both show up on the scene. Inu leaps into a pack of Beowolves and clicks a button on the staff of her naginata, Ivory Rogue, causing electricity to flow into the blade. She spins in a circle, twirling it around as she does. In a matter of moments the Beowolves are turned into a black cloud.

Alan is focusing most of his efforts on the White Fang soldiers. Leaping from one to the next with his twin daggers, Ebony and Talon. It’s weird but I never really noticed how good of a fighter he is until now. I mean I always knew he was good but this, he doesn’t strike me as someone who is just about to attend his first year of combat school.

“Well well what do we have here!” my breath skips and a cold shiver runs down my spine as I hear a familiar voice. I quickly turn to see Grey and his two goons, Jussuf and Shira, already with their weapons drawn.

“Have you really gone off the deep end Grey!” I shout, catching the attention of Ruby and the others but aside from Ruby they are too busy dealing with the Grimm and the White Fang to really shift focus. Ruby rushes to my side. “I was wondering why we hadn’t seen you in a long time but I never imagined you’d go this far, just to get back at us!?”

“Don’t flatter yourself princess, this isn’t for you I’m just following orders, getting to take you out is just a bonus.” he says with a cold stare. “I do need to pay Little Red there back for messing up my hand.”

“Following orders from who!?” Ruby asks, completely ignoring his line about paying her back.

“Need to know runt, and you don’t.” he raises his hand. “Now what do you say we get this over with before the real Huntsmen arrive and mess everything up.”

He snaps his fingers and in a flash disappears. At the same time his goons rush us, Ruby takes Shira and I take Jussuf. I blast some fire dust at him which he dodges. He takes a swipe at me with his whip and I jump over it, launching myself at him and getting a hit directly to his body. He winces but his aura takes most of it, he follows by taking a swing at me with his fist which I block but it does send me sliding back a ways.

He then tries the same trick he used on me before, wrapping Myrtenaster with his whip and attempting to rip it from my hands. This time I’m smarter and I activate the ice dust cylinder, completely freezing his whip so it’s rigid as an icicle. He looks absolutely stunned, earning a brief satisfactory smirk from me before I snap his whip, breaking the rest of it off of my sword.

“It ain’t been THAT long since the last time we fought, how is it you got this good that fast.” he says through growls of anger.

“Simple, I spent that time training and improving myself, you spent it doing nothing but following Grey around like the pathetic underling you are.”

That makes him mad enough to toss his now useless weapon aside and come running at me with nothing but muscle and claws. Right as he is about to reach me, he walks over a gravity glyph that I had placed a moment ago and he was too furious to notice. It holds him in place while I load up some ice dust and freeze him all the way up to his waist. When he attempts to claw his way out I freeze his hands in place as well.

“You lose Jussuf, this time you and your boss will face the consequences of what you did.” I take a page out of Yang's playbook and knock him out cold with the hilt of my sword. With him dealt with I quickly turn my attention to Ruby who seems to be holding her own. Shira is tougher than Jussuf though and Ruby doesn’t have the training I do so she is struggling a bit.

I check my dust stock and realize I am running low on fire. Thanks to Jussuf I am also completely out of Ice, I also don’t wanna risk overusing my glyphs, it’ll drain my Aura too quickly.  
Before I can decide on what to do, I hear the faint sound of snapping just behind me. On instinct I quickly dodge out of the way, I manage to avoid taking a direct hit but the blade from Grey’s weapon cuts into my ponytail, cutting off a large chunk of hair as the rest of it falls down.

“Damn, so close.” Grey reappears with a smirk and points his gun at me. Something I didn't notice before is that his eyes have turned an almost red color as opposed to the dark grey they used to be. What in the world is that about? “Oh well, no sense crying over it, I’ll just have to keep at it.”

“You are insane, you know that, what exactly does any of this accomplish other than feed your twisted ego!” 

“Like I said, need to know, just know that the events of tonight will help set the White Fang here back in the right direction!” he raises his fingers to snap again. “That said, the ego thing feels pretty good too!”

I go to charge at him but before I can he snaps his fingers and disappears again. My eyes dart in every direction looking for him. I hear the sound of snapping again and he reappears right beside me, I barely manage to react in time to block his weapon. He has a twisted smile on his face.

“You won’t get away with this Grey!”

“I’m pretty sure I will, you on the other hand, you aren’t leaving here.” he says before blinking twice. Before I can figure out what that means, I feel what feels like several rounds hitting me directly in the back, draining what Aura I have left. “Good thing for back up plans right?”

He knees me in the stomach as hard as he can, sending me to my knees. Before I can raise my sword to defend myself he kicks it out of my hand. As I look up toward him I see the blade from his weapon swinging down towards me, it almost feels like time slowed to a crawl in that moment and what I’m sure was only a matter of seconds felt like hours. I feel a deeply painful sensation over my left eye, my vision being distorted by a red tint washing over my eye.

He points the gun at my head and prepares to pull the trigger. I refuse to give him the satisfaction of showing any fear. I just stare him down without flinching

"You've got guts, I'll give you that much, it won't save you though."

"NO!" I hear Ruby shout and just as Grey is about to pull the trigger we are both engulfed in a mysterious white light.


	8. Patch Under Siege Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One quick thing to note, if you read the last chapter before I updated it, I accidently posted my first draft. I have fixed it and the ending is slightly different also Weiss makes an observation about Grey that is important for a scene in this chapter. Sorry for the mix-up.

RUBY ROSE

Shira charges at me with his large buster sword, slamming it into the ground where I was standing just a second ago. I fired off a round from Crescent Rose, propelling myself out of the way just in time to avoid the attack. I then quickly spin myself back around and launch myself toward him, attempting to get a quick hit in while he was still yanking his sword out of the dirt. He notices me however and before I can reach him he lets out a roar that feels like a sonic blast, sending me flying back. That must be his semblance, not bad, I’d be impressed if he wasn’t trying to kill us.

I quickly change the clip in Crescent Rose and plant her firmly in the ground, firing off a few rounds towards Shira. Each of which he blocks with relative ease, looks like I’m not gonna get him with any head on shots, and close range combat isn’t really preferable right now. I look around at everyone else, Yang and Inu are dealing with a ton of Grimm. Alan is busy dealing with the other Fang soldiers and Weiss has her hands full with Jussuf. I can’t expect any of them to back me up right now, I have to deal with this.

I fire off a round and launch myself into the air and then back toward a stand. I aim and fire at Shira, hoping the added elevation will make it harder for him to deflect my rounds. It sort of works, he blocks most of them again but one does manage to graze his shoulder. It’s not much but it shows I can chip away at his aura if nothing else.

Frustrated, he charges at me and jumps into the air. I barely manage to get out of the way as he brings his blade down on top of the stand, completely demolishing it. If he had hit me there I would’ve been done, top priority is just avoiding that sword.

He is now coming at me full force, I barely have time to breathe before he is on top of me again. This time he swings the sword horizontally. I jump in an attempt to dodge and actually manage to stand on top of the blade, letting him inadvertently launch me away with his swing. Surprising him and myself, I had no idea I’d actually pull that off.

In midair I quickly turn and aim again firing off multiple rounds and this time two manage to graze him chipping away at his aura even more. This is working for now but how long can I keep this up? I look over toward Weiss and see that she is actually finishing things up with Jussuf, I should’ve known he’d be no match for her. One less thing to worry about.

I land on top of another stand and as I am loading another clip into Crescent Rose I hear him roar again, this time the sonic blast knocks down the stand I am on as well as several others. I fall to the ground with wooden debris landing on top of me. I shake off the fatigue and start pushing several pieces of wood off of me but before I can unbury myself I feel Shira’s huge foot on my chest.

“Enough playing around little girl, you put up more of a fight than I expected but it’s over.” he raises his sword into the air and begins to swing it down on top of me. I panic and try desperately to free myself from his hold. Seconds pass and I don’t feel his sword crashing down on top of me. I slowly look up and see that I am still laying on the ground but a couple feet away and between Shira and I there are fluttering rose petals. He has a shocked expression on his face, same as me probably.

“How did I-?” I start to ask, looking at my hands and arms. How did I get away, was...was that my semblance?! If it was then what is my semblance?! How did it get me from over there, buried under wood and a massive Tiger faunus foot, to over here. I decide to stop questioning it and get to my feet.

Shira finally wipes the shocked look off of his face and snarls in frustration. He grips the hilt of his sword and charges at me again. I close my eyes and try to focus on just getting past him, moving myself from here to where Crescent Rose is and when I open my eyes again I am now standing on top of the debris. The same trail of rose petals fluttering between Shira and I, I still don’t fully understand what I’m doing but at least I kind of get how it works now.

I quickly grab Crescent Rose out of the debris and get into a battle ready stance, trying to get him to charge at me again. He attempts to send me flying with another sonic blast but I plant Crescent Rose in the ground and hold on tight. This one was weaker than the last one meaning he must be running on low.

“Is that all you got Shira!?” I taunt him, still trying to get him to charge at me. “I thought you were supposed to be Grey’s right hand man, guess he is just as big a loser huh?”

That does the trick, he full on bares his teeth and grips his hilt so hard his knuckles turn white. He charges at me with what I can only imagine is bloodlust dripping from his eyes. I close my eyes and focus just like before, thinking desperately about going forward and up through him.

For a second I worry that it’s not going to work as I feel him almost right on top of me. In an instant though that feeling is gone, I open my eyes and see that I am in the air behind him. I move as quickly as my reflexes will allow and before he can respond I fire off multiple rounds towards him, the first two chip away at what is left of his aura and the third hits him in the leg causing him to let out a pained yell and take a knee. While he is distracted by the pain in his leg I fire a round from behind and launch myself toward him and with a spinning kick straight to his head I knock him out cold.

I stand there panting and leaning on Crescent Rose. It takes a moment for the sheer adrenaline to wear off but eventually the realization washes over me. I beat him, I took him down, all on my own. I beat my first real opponent! 

“Ruby!?” I turn to see Alan running up to me, he must have gotten his situation mostly under control and came to check on me. “Are you okay...damn I guess I shouldn’t have worried.”  
“Yeah...it was rough but I actually managed to beat him.” I say finding it hard to not be a little proud of myself before I return to the matter at hand. “What about everyone else, I lost track of them in the fight, are they all okay?”

“Yang and Inu are okay, last I saw of Weiss she had beaten that Jussuf guy but I lost track of her.”

“I don’t like the sound of that.” I start to dart off in the direction I last remember seeing her when all of a sudden I am cut off by a man wearing a black cloak and a Grimm mask, similar to the White Fang masks but much more elaborate. The only part of his face I can see are burning red eyes almost shining through the mask. He is wearing a pair of massive clawed gauntlets on his hands and he has an intense threatening feel. “Wh-Who the heck are you…”

He doesn’t say anything, he just takes a step toward me. I get ready to fight him despite really wanting to go find Weiss but Alan puts his arm in front of me, signalling me to stop. I look at him confused, he has a look of near hatred on his face as he stares down this mysterious man.

“Ruby you need to run, this guy is on another level from Grey and his douche friends, you won’t stand a chance.” he says in the most serious tone I have ever heard him use.

“Alan who is this guy, how do you know him?” I ask, genuinely confused as to what in the heck is going on.

“I’ll tell you later, just go!” he shouts. Suddenly the man charges at me at a speed that is nearly impossible to track. Alan moves to block him, utilizing the same crazy speed and sparks fly as their blades clash. They are pressing against each other so hard that the metal from their blades continue to create sparks.

“Alan…” I have a million questions right now. Is Alan really who he says, how can he move that fast and how is he that strong.

“Seriously pipsqueak you need to just go help your friend, I’ll be okay.” he says, his tone much calmer this time in an attempt to reassure me I’m sure.

Without speaking another word and just choosing to put my trust in him for now, I get to my feet and bolt away as fast as I can. I hear the clashing of metal on metal behind me over and over again but I keep running, determined to find Weiss. The last thing I think I hear before I am finally out of earshot is a single word. “Traitor!”

I dart around the fairgrounds looking for Weiss. I spot Yang and Inu along the way but they are more than holding their own so I decide to just trust that they can handle things. Eventually I spot an unconscious Jussuf, frozen in place. Alan wasn’t kidding, seems like Weiss completely decimated him. In that case where is she? Shouldn’t she have joined the others...now that I think about it where is Grey?   
In the distance I hear several gunshots and I hear Weiss let out a pained scream, causing my heart to sink. I dart in the direction of the sound, hoping with all I have in me that I won’t be to late. As I burst through a line of bushes I see Weiss on her knees, her weapon knocked clear away from her and Grey with his gun pressed against her forehead, preparing to pull the trigger.

I feel a gut wrenching fear begin to take over my body. I can’t think of anyway to stop him, there is no way I can move fast enough to stop him from pulling the trigger. What can I do? I have to do something. If I don’t I’ll lose Weiss….No...NO!

“NO!” I shout before I feel the most powerful headache I have ever experienced and my vision goes completely White. I briefly feel dizzy and nauseous before I collapse on the ground, my vision fading to black. “Weiss…”

Weiss Schnee

Everything turns completely white for a brief moment, almost like a flashbang but without the loud deafening noise. I cover my eyes with my hand until the light slowly fades. As my vision quickly returns I look where Grey was once standing over me and see that he is collapsed on the ground, holding his head and screaming in pain.

“What the hell did she do to me, it feels like I’m being torn apart!” he shouts.

I look behind him and see Ruby, collapsed on the ground. I want to rush to her immediately, but I have to deal with this trash first. I slowly walk over and grab Myrtenaster off the ground, not that I think I’ll need it but just in case. I walk back over to him and just stand over him as he continues to scream and growl in great pain.

If this was any other person I would probably feel some pity but he deserves some pain for everything he has done. That said I’m not inhumane like him, so I decide to show some mercy and deliver a swift kick to his face, knocking him out cold. With that taken care of I turn to deal with the soldier he had hiding in the bushes but I guess he ran off when Grey went down, smart move. Cowardly, but smart.

I rush as much as I can over to Ruby’s side, sitting beside her. I check her pulse and she is breathing at least which is a relief. I have no idea how she did what she did just now but that doesn’t really matter right now. What matters is that Ruby saved my life, again. I smile and with tears forming in my eyes, I lean down and gently kiss her on the forehead.

I stroke her hair and then go to stand, so I can help the others with what's left of the attacking forces. Right as I get to my feet though, I feel all the pain and fatigue hit me all at once and I begin to fall backward. Before I hit the ground I feel myself being caught by someone.

“Weiss, I’m so sorry it took us so long to get here!” I drowsily look up and see Klein.

“Klein?...” I look around and see not only Klein but Ruby’s Uncle Qrow, her dad Taiyang who is picking her up off the ground and several teachers from the school who stop only for a moment to make sure we are okay before heading for the fairgrounds.

I smile, now secure in the fact that it’s over and allow myself to drift off as the fatigue completely overtakes me.

I slowly open my eyes and instead of a burning fairground I see my room. I pain all over but particularly over my left eye. I reach up to touch it and feel a massive bandage covering it. I slowly sit up as I realize that Klein must have taken me home, he has medical training after all and with how busy the hospital would probably be after last night he probably figured it better to bring me home.

I check myself over and see that I am covered in bandages. My hair is still a sloppily chopped mess as well, though that's the least important right now. I feel a slight rustling next to me and I look over to see Ruby laying in the bed next to me. My initial reaction is to blush like crazy and almost jump out of the bed. Then I see that she is also covered in bandages and I realize they probably just put her here so she could get some sleep while Klein checked her out to make sure she was okay.

I smile and slowly reach over to her, gently stroking her hair and moving it out of her face. She was my hero all over again, it’s not every day that the same person saves your life twice. I feel the tears start to well up again, in my good eye anyway, but I just wipe them away. 

I sit there and smile at her sleeping face, my cheeks warm. I think I realized something last night, something I have known for a long time but was afraid to admit to myself. I’m not afraid anymore. I lean over very carefully, trying not to wake her up. I place a gentle kiss on her cheek and softly whisper “I love you Ruby Rose.”

“Ahem.” I hear a familiar voice and I quickly look up to see Yang leaning against the door frame, more than a few bandages on her face and arms but otherwise mostly okay. Which would normally be a relief but based on the look on her face, a cheeky grin, I realize she heard what I just said and I’m sure my face is officially completely red.

“Y-Yang, how much did you hear?”

“I heard enough.” she chuckles. “Just so you know, I’ve suspected for awhile but I wanted you to be the one to figure it out for yourself, oh and I approve.”

“Yang...thank you.” is all I can think to say.

“For my approval?” she asks.  
“No, well that too but more importantly, thank you for letting me figure it out on my own it made it feel...more real I guess?” I smile at her. “You’re a good friend.”

“Yeah Yeah, you too.” she sits beside my bed, her face a tiny bit red as well. “So now you just gotta tell her.”

“You really think I should?”

“I do, for both of your sakes, you won’t forgive yourself if you don’t and she she deserves to know.”

“What if...what if she doesn’t feel the same way?” I ask. “I almost would rather just love her in secret and remain her friend than risk telling her how I feel and ruining everything.”

“Weiss I get it, but that wouldn’t be fair, to you or to her.”

“Yeah...you’re right, I’ll tell her...soon.”

“Great, so all that lovey dovey stuff aside, how are you feeling?” she changes the subject.

“I’ll live, I’m just in quite a bit of pain, especially with my eye.”

“Yeah that did look pretty gnarly, Klein says it’ll be awhile before you can take off the bandage..he also said there is likely to be a scar.”

“Yeah..I was afraid of that.” I reach up and touch my eye, letting out a sigh. “Enough about me though, how is everyone else?”

“Inu is fine, Klein patched her up and then her parents came and got her, Alan…” she trails off and looks somber.

“What about Alan?”

“No one has seen him, I remember him running off to check on Ruby and I haven’t seen him since.”

“Do you think he was…?” I hesitate to ask.

“I don’t know...there wasn’t a body if he was, it’s more like he just vanished.” she sighs. “It gets worse too, the entire island is basically in chaos right now, the fairground wasn’t the only place they attacked.”

“What do you mean?”

“They attacked the market, the park, and even Signal.” she looks down at her feet. “No one still knows why but it was a large coordinated attack across several key points of the island, they even attacked the sub-tower that connects us to the main CCT Tower in Vale so communication is spotty at best.”

“What about Grey and his goons?” I ask.

“They are all in custody but they aren’t talking, Grey in particular hasn’t said a word, whatever you did really messed him up.”

“Not me, that was all Ruby.”


	9. Feelings Laid Bare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang are all still dealing with the aftermath of the attack on Patch as best they can. The rubble is being cleared, the injured are being treated and the dead are being buried. However with a power shortage, no word from the mainland and Ruby still not waking up, things aren't looking great. Will they be able to bounce back from this tragedy and will Weiss ever to get to finally tell Ruby the one thing she wants to tell her more than anything?

WEISS SCHNEE

I sit at my desk and bury my face in my hands. I haven’t gotten much sleep since I woke up and Ruby...Ruby still hasn’t. It's been over a day now and she is still asleep. We’d take her to the hospital but they are full of people and with their only power being supplied by a backup generator. We doubt they’d be able to do much. Besides Klein is as good as any doctor there so she’s in good hands here.

I look over at my bed and see her sleeping peacefully. I get up out of my chair to shift her around a bit like Klein said, so she doesn’t develop bed sores. As I do I gently call her name in hopes that maybe she’ll wake up...no such luck. I’m really starting to worry, what if...what if she doesn’t wake up.

All of a sudden I hear my computer start to make sound indicating that someone is trying to video chat. I walk over and see that it’s Yang and Inu, I quickly sit down and jump into the call.

“Hey Weiss, how is Ruby doing?” Yang says almost immediately. It’s only natural she’d be worried.

“She..still hasn’t woken up, but we are taking good care of her.” I say which clearly offers little comfort, not that I blame her. “I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to cleanup efforts at the school, how’d they go?”

“About as well as could be expected, we spent most of the time cleaning up rubble while the adults handled trying to fix walls and stuff.” Inu says. “Don’t worry about being there, you’re needed there.”

“What Inu said, I’m just happy Ruby is being looked after.” Yang adds. “Especially since Klein has his hands full with overflow from the hospital, as soon as word got out about his medical training everyone went there.”

“Yeah you’re not kidding, downstairs has been full of people all day.”

“So...any word from Alan yet?” Inu asks.

“No unfortunately, I asked Dawn and Dusk for help, they said they and what remaining soldiers they have will look for him but they have their hands full with trying to figure out how everything went down last night and who was behind helping Grey.”

“I’m wondering what is taking the mainland so long to respond, sure communication is spotty at best but we sent someone in a ship asap to get help, you’d think help would be here or at least they’d be close enough to contact us over radio.” Yang says. “It just doesn’t feel right, Uncle Qrow agrees.”  
“Who knows, everything doesn’t feel right these days.” I rest my head on my hand.

“Anyway, to change the subject to a happier topic, I really like your hair Weiss.” Inu says, trying to lighten the mood.

“Thanks, I figured I’d just cut it short after Grey brutalized it.” I gently grab a tuft of hair and lightly. “Do you...think Ruby will like it?”

“I’m sure she’ll love it Weiss.” Yang answers with a chuckle. “Don’t forget what we talked about.”

“I won’t, I’m just building up the courage for..WHEN she wakes up.” I almost said IF but I refuse to even put that energy out there.

“Well we are rooting for you Weiss, it’s about time.” Inu says giggling.

“I still can’t believe you even knew, did everyone?” I ask.

“Most people did yeah, it was pretty obvious.” Yang says bluntly.

“Great...well regardless I just hope she feels the same way.” I blush and twiddle my thumbs.

“Like I said, there is only one way to find out.” Yang says. “Anyway I gotta go, I’m gonna take a shower and cook dinner before Dad and Uncle Qrow get home from cleaning up any remaining Grimm, the panic from last night really riled them up.”

“Yeah I’m gonna go too, I wanna go out and look for Alan for a bit.”

“You just be careful, okay, don’t want you to get hurt.” I respond.

“I will, say hi to Ruby for me when she wakes up, goodnight.”

“Good night” Yang and I both say before hanging up.

I lean back in my chair and look toward the ceiling, my arm covering my eyes as I let out a big sigh. Why does everything feel like it’s been falling apart lately? It just feels like the entire world is hanging over the edge and one little push is gonna cause it to fall apart. I know I’m probably overexagerrating and it’s probably just here on Patch but...over the last couple of years Patch has basically been my whole world. It’s like a home to me now and the people here have been more like family to me than my family back home, Winter excluding and I just hate seeing it in shambles like this.

I look over at Ruby before walking over and sitting on the bed next to her. I gently stroke her hair and I start to tear up. Ruby...I’d really appreciate having you around right now. If there is anyone on the planet who could make me feel better right now it’s you. You’d probably smile at me with that big beaming smile of yours that lights up any room you walk into and tell me everything was okay and I’d believe you like I always do, because when you’re around I can’t help but feel everything will work out.

“Please wake up soon Ruby..” I slowly lift myself up off the bed, noticing that the Sun is setting as I walk by the window. I realize it’s been awhile since I have been downstairs to help Klein, I better go check on him to see how he is doing. 

I can’t do much but I can at least do what I can to help the people here and that includes helping Klein with all those poor injured people who can’t rely on the hospital. I make my way to the door and take one last look back at Ruby, reassuring myself again that she will be okay, before heading downstairs.

RUBY ROSE

I am standing in the middle of the fairgrounds, how did I get here? I thought I passed out? Everything is burning around me, I’m surrounded by Grimm and in the distance over the sea I spot what looks like hundreds of ships both in the air and the sea. Suddenly hundreds of fireballs spring forth from the Warships and come right at the island.

One of them flies right at me and just as it’s about to hit me I raise my arms to instinctively block it but it never hits. I open my eyes and look around to see that I am now in a dark forest. So dark that I can’t see anything outside of the few trees immediately in front of me. I walk forward calling out for Weiss, Yang, Inu, Alan, anyone who might respond.

Suddenly I hear screaming, I turn to see...Yang, being pierced through the heart by a giant blade. I try to scream out to her but I can’t make any noise anymore. I am forced to turn where I see Inu and Alan being shot down by a barrage of gunfire. The tears are now flowing down my face as I want nothing more than to look away but I can’t. Next I am forced to watch as Dad and Uncle Qrow are swallowed up by the ground and crushed. Finally...I see Weiss. She is calling out to me for help but I am frozen in place.

Suddenly she begins to be engulfed by a thick black substance. It starts at her feet and despite her best efforts to claw it off of her she is slowly swallowed by it. As she is slowly dying and my tears won’t stop, I still can’t scream out. I hear the faint sound of laughing that only gets louder and louder. I turn to see the man in the mask from the night before, his eyes glowing red through the mask, laughing maniacally. Behind him in the tree line I see faint silhouettes accompanied by glowing red eyes. 

Just when I think I couldn’t be more terrified, I look above and see a large towering figure, still shrouded by the darkness but with long veins like red lines accentuating the silhouette of a face and several glowing red eyes. I flinch as the figure reaches for me and just before it grips its hand around me, I shoot up and grab my head, realizing that it’s pounding and my body is aching. I pant and shake with tears flowing down my face. It takes several minutes, what feels like forever, until I finally manage to calm down and the pain mostly subsides. 

What in the world was that about, that dream...I don’t think I’ve experienced that much fear and sadness in my life. I take a deep breath and I slowly sit up more in bed, looking around the room, I quickly realize I am in Weiss’ room. Not sure why but I can assume it has something to do with the attack last night. I pull myself slowly out of the bed and wobble as I get to my feet, I’m a little groggy but that’s still weird, it’s like I haven’t walked in awhile.

I slowly walk over to the window and see that the sun is down, but it can’t be the same night, you don’t get sore like this from sleeping for a couple of hours, how long did I sleep? 

“Ruby?” I turn to see Weiss standing in the doorway, looking surprised.

“H-Hey Weiss.” I smile at her nervously. She tears up a little and smiles back before running at me and wrapping me in a tight hug, nearly knocking me off my feet. Why does this situation feel backwards?

“I’m so happy to see you awake, you’ve been out of it for a couple of days, we were worried you might have a concussion or something.”

A couple of days? Why was I out for so long? I don’t remember anything past that blinding white light. I hear Weiss sniffle slightly making me lose my train of thought, I quickly return the hug. I can’t imagine how scared she must have been, if the roles were reversed...I don’t know what I’d do.

“Hey...I’m okay Weiss, really.” I gently stroke her hair to try and calm her down.

“Part of me was just so afraid you wouldn’t wake up, the thought of never getting to talk to you or spend time with you again....” She hugs me a bit tighter.

“Hey it’s okay.” I gently push her back with my hands on her shoulders so I can look her in the eye, when I do I see her eyes look a bit red, as if she’d been crying. “I’m not going anywhere okay?”

She gives me a little smile, stray tears still sitting in the corners of her eyes. She reaches her hand up and wipes them away, as she does her cheeks turn a slight tint of pink.

“Hey Ruby...c-can we go on a walk?” she asks all of a sudden. I’m not sure what that is about but I decided some fresh air would be nice.

“Sure Weiss, I really should stretch my legs anyway.”

She grabs my hand and leads me quietly down the stairs. I see several people lying around on various pieces of furniture, most of them sleeping and bandaged up. This raises about a million questions from me but before I can ask Weiss signals me to be quiet and points to a chair with Klein passed out, looking exhausted.

We tip toe past him and sneak out the front door, making as little noise as possible as we shut the door behind us.

“He’s been running himself ragged taking care of as many people as he can.” she says as we start walking down the path near her house.

“Okay I’ve got so many questions, I figured that there’d be a lot of injuries after the attack at the fair but-”

“It wasn’t just the fair.” she cuts me off.

“What do you mean?”

“Yang told me after I woke up, Grey’s attack was much bigger than we thought.”

“Big how?” I ask not really wanting to know the answer but feeling like I need to.

“Somehow he rallied enough Fang soldiers behind him to plan attacks on the fair, the school, the hospital, the market, the school and even the sub-radar that connects us to the mainland.” she replies somberly. “That doesn’t even touch on the Grimm that they somehow managed to use against us without hurting themselves, all told we have few remaining sources of power on the island, we haven’t heard from the mainland since the attack and there are too many injured and...dead.”

“Wow...that’s..a lot to process.” I look up at the broken moon hovering over us not really knowing how to take all that in.

“I know, I felt the same when Yang first told me...I still do.” her grip on my hand tightens slightly.

We walk for a while along the path until we reach a certain point in the woods. She leads me off of the path, noticeably walking slower so I can keep up more easily. I guess she noticed I am kinda having trouble right now. It doesn’t take long before we reach a familiar clearing, it seems a few more trees are cut down than I remember since the light from the moon is shining much more clearly through the trees, but I’ll never forget this spot.

“Why did you wanna go here Weiss?”

“Two years.” is all she says in response.

“Huh?”

“It’s been two years since we first met on this spot.”

“Time really flies I guess, it almost feels like it was just yesterday, I have no idea how you put up with me that long.” I say with a chuckle which earns a giggle from her.

“Ruby...these last two years have been the happiest of my life, partly thanks to Yang and the other friends I have made since coming here...but mostly thanks to you.” she turns to look at me with eyes that say she is holding back tears, a sweet smile on her face and her cheeks totally pink.

“Aw shucks Weiss, you’re gonna make me blush.” Which I am sure I’m already doing as I scratch my cheek.

“Before I met you, the only people I ever trusted and felt cared about me were my sister and Klein.” she says, her smile becoming a little sadder. “I was grateful to them don’t get me wrong but...I was scared I’d never actually make any friends because I felt like I couldn’t trust anyone, that everyone was either against me or only wanted to be close to me for the perks of being friends with a Schnee.”

She walks a little closer to me, she is now slightly avoiding eye contact with me. For some reason I’m finding it hard to maintain it myself at this point. I feel my breathing pick up slightly, when she finally looks up at me I feel my breath catch in my throat, the moon lighting up her face right now...I mean she has always been beautiful but for some reason in this moment, I feel like I have never seen anything more beautiful in my life.

“You changed all that, thanks to you I opened myself up and made plenty of new friends, some of whom I can say will be my friends for a very very long time and that’s all because you gave me the courage to do it.”

What is this feeling? It’s like a beating drum in my chest. I want to reply to her, I want to say something but I just can’t, I’m too fixated. 

“You have just made me a better person, I’m so grateful to have you in my life and I will treasure the time we have spent together for the rest of my life, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.” she grabs my hand gently and interlocks our fingers which makes my heart skip a beat. “I have never felt about anyone, the way that I feel about you Ruby Rose.”

I was finally about to speak, I was going to tell her how important she was to me and how much I value the time we have spent together. I was going to tell her how much of a positive effect she has had on me too, that it goes both ways. Before I could say anything she gently pulls me forward and gently presses her lips against mine.

At first I was shocked but I found myself forgetting all of that, forgetting everything. Before I realize it I am kissing her back and we stay like that for awhile, the light of the moon bathing us both, just existing together in that moment. In the spot where we first met, for the briefest of moments nothing else mattered. Eventually she gently pulls away and looks me in the eye, her face blushed red and a single tear falling down her face.

“I..I love you Ruby Rose.”


End file.
